



Book ''Zj Z6> 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




But, Cards!— Well, it is cards that has brought out the sporting blood in us. 



JACK POTS 



STORIKS OF THE GREAT 
AMERICAN GAME 

/ 
By EUGENE EDWARDS 




can be played 

but once a n/gAf 



WITH OVER FIFTY ORIGINAL PEN AND INK 
ILLUSTRATIONS BY 



IKE MORGAN 



I 900 

JAMIESON-HIGGINS CO, 

CHICAGO 



TWO COPIES HiiO.£iV t.J>. ^ 

Library of Congr9i% 
Office of tbe 

r.fi^9 1900 

Kagltter of Copyrl£fbt% 



60028 

Copyright, 1900 

BY 

JAMIESON-HIGGINS CO. 



ScCJND COPY, 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I. What is Poker? — Its Origin, and Why We Like It. 7 
II. The Early Days of Poker — Steamboat Games — 

A Mammoth Raise — Bowie's Good Deed 22 

III. Poker in Washington — A Story of Henry Clay — 

Cabinet Players — Mahone's Rule — When 
Reed Was Called 36 

IV. Poker in London and Paris — John Bull's Two 

Pair — A Game with the Prince of Wales 53 

V. Poker and Jurisprudence — Various Decisions by 
Legal Luminaries — How the Judge Over- 
ruled the Motion— The Sheriff Took the Pot.. 67 
VI. All about Jack Pots — A $1,200,000 Jack — Didn't 
Know Greenbacks — Won on Two Deuces — A 

Boston Man's Narrow Escape 85 

VII. The Scheme for a National Jack Pot— A Jack Pot 

Without Cards 104 

VIII. Women and Poker — Arguments to Show that They 
Can't Play and a Story to Prove that They 

Can 1 14 

IX. Old Time Poker in the South— A Jack Pot of 

Niggers — Colonel Rafael and His Honor 130 

X. Poker and Hypnotism — A Young Man Who can. 

Read Card.s — How Five Aces were Beaten — 

The Man Who Laid Down a Straight Flush. . 148 

XL A Life-long Game — The Great Morgan-Danielson 

Betting Match — Four Hours to Open a Jack 

Pot — Three Thousand Dollars for a Nap 160 

XII. About Bluffing — $200,000 on a Pair of Tens — A 
Bluff that Turned into a Flush — Major 

Edwards and the Tenderfoot 174 

5 



6 CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

XIII. Tom Custer's Luck— A Girl Makes the Best Draw 

on Record — How a Town-site was Won on 
Two Deuces — Lucky Baldwin's Big Play i8g 

XIV. Six Cards in One Hand — Two Games wherein Six 

Cards Figured — What Became of the Extra 

One 204 

XV. Poker in the Centennial State — Big Betting on 
Small Hands — How Three Klondikers Played 
Cards 217 

XVI. Children and Poker — Too Much Frankness — 
Daddy and Dinah — How the Tom Fool had 

them "All Alike " 230 

XVII. The Police and the Gamblers— A Down East 
Selectman — A Bunko Game at Los Angeles — 

Story of the Short-Card Man 245 

XVIII. Superstitious Players — Queens and Tens — Louis 
Laid them Down — Euchre and Poker — An 
Old Story 259 

XIX. Reminiscences of William Hurt, Reformed — John 
Dougherty's Bet of Arizona Territory — His 

Adventures in Persia 271 

XX. How the Bear Spoiled the Jack Pot — Touching 
Tale of a Dog that Tipped off Poker Hands 
to His Master 2S4 

XXI. Practical Joking — How the Dentist was Fixed — 

The Fresh Baseball Reporter and the Players 294 
XXII. Crooked Gambling — An Expert Explains the Mys- 
teries of Second Card, Paper Men and Hold 
Outs 308 

XXIII. Classic Tales of Poker— The One-Eyed Man- 

Origin of the Looloo — Four Kings as Bank 
Collateral — Jay Gould as a Philanthropist 317 

XXIV. The Poetry of Poker— Ditties, Wise and Other- 

wise, about the Great National Game 335 



JACK POTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

WHAT IS POKER ITS ORIGIN, AND WHY 

WE LIKE IT. 

All civilized nations love sport, but Americans 
surpass all the world in that as in so many other re- 
spects. That is because Americans are so little 
conservative that they readily adopt all games 
as their own. As in everything else, England is 
shy of any but the customs that bear the mark of 
her own breeding, and a game — out or indoor — 
makes but slow progress in her affections. We have 
been trying to introduce base ball into the 
tight little island for twenty years, and although 
we are told that there are clubs here and there 
and hear dim rumors that some of the players are 
crack-a-jacks, we never hear of any of our mag- 
nates signing these phenoms, nor do we believe 
there is in all Great Britain a boy who gets up in 
the morning and makes a rush for the paper to see 
the score before his father looks at it. 

7 



8 JACK POTS. 

On the other hand, we have taken up cricket, 
which is so essentially English that it takes three 
days to play a match, and we have fairly gone daft 
over the Scotch game of golf. The Indian game 
of Lacrosse had quite a run a few years ago, and 
even now occasionally sees the light on our north- 
ern frontier, and we have even brought the game 
of polo from far away India. If any nation has a 
game that has in it the least element of attractive- 
ness, let it be brought along and it will certainly be 
given a respectful hearing. 

But, cards ! — Well, it is cards that has brought 
out the sporting blood in us. There are people 
who will not believe this, and point to base ball. 
They say ''Look at the thousands who attend a 
game!" All right; look at them. Then consider 
that the game only lasts for two hours and that 
a big league city gets only fifty-seven games in an 
entire season, if every scheduled game is played. 
And then consider that the thousands of spectators 
are not taking any actual part in the game ; they 
are not playing. Apart from the boys, hundreds of 
the spectators couldn't catch a fly ball with a net, 
and for every man looking on there are a hundred 
who are willing to simply read the account of the 
game in the next morning's paper. 

But cards w^e have with us always. There are 
a few^ men who have never played cards in their 
lives and for some inscrutable reason are proud of 



WHAT IS POKER? 9 

the fact, and a greater number who used to play 
when they were boys but have no time for it now, 
but the man who never in all his life fingered a pack 
of cards is about as hard to find as the man who 
never told a lie. Of course this would not have 
held true thirty or forty years ago, when cards 
were held up to scorn as the invention of the devil, 
and all card players were placed but a shade above 
a forger or pickpocket. We do not hear so much 
of that wild talk nowadays. 

In cards we are almost as radical as in out of 
door sports. Faro, baccarat, rouge et noir, and 
one or two others are decidedly foreign, and there 
are more coming. Euchre is French, and seven- 
up is our own. That is the country boy's game, 
and many a hay mow has looked down on an ex- 
citing game, when the old man had gone to town. 
Euchre is the ladies' game because you can play it 
any which way, and cheat and talk, and no one 
will get very mad about it. Whist is never going to 
be popular, no matter how many clubs are formed 
or how many trophies are played for. There 
is too much brain work about whist, pretty much 
as in chess, and the ordinary man does not care 
to expend more energy than would saw a cord of 
wood for the sake of persuading himself that he 
has had an hour's amusement. One reason whist 
is played as much as it is, is owing to the idea in- 
dustriously cultivated that the game is "respect- 



lo JACK POTS. 

able." Perhaps this is due to the fact that the 
Queen of England plays whist, but she also drinks 
Scotch whiskey, so that would hardly do to take 
as an indorsement. In English novels the vicars 
and curates always play whist, so that may be the 
reason. At any rate the game is eminently "re- 
spectable," and a lady never alludes to her last 
visit to the whist club without a touch of con- 
scious pride. It adds to her social standing, or she 
thinks it does, which amounts to the same thing. 

When you shuffle up all the games, however, 
there is one that stands out before and beyond all 
the others, like a lighthouse on the sea coast or 
a water tank on a prairie, and that is POKER. 

This is not a history, but it seems no more than 
proper that a brief inquiry into the origin of the 
game should be given place. It is claimed that it is 
a descendant of the Spanish game of primero, 
although the proof is not very clear. According 
to the people who delve into such things, primero 
was elaborated in France in the seventeenth cen- 
tury into ambigu, in which the straight, the 
straight flush, three of a kind, and four of a kind 
were introduced. About this time a game called 
post and pair, derived from primero, was played 
in the West of England, and from this came brag, 
on which Hoyle wrote a treatise in 175 1. In the 
. game of brag, each player said ''I brag" as he 
raised another player. Another authority claims 



WHAT IS POKER? II 

that poker is merely a variation from the Irish 
game of spoil five. 

If these explanations are true it is rather remark- 
able that neither the Spanish, French, English or 
Irish have a liking for the modern and 
perfected game. Of course we know how 
cordially Europeans detest innovations, but 
that would mean that they would cling to 
primero or ambigu, but they do not. In 
spite of all temptations to belong to other nations 
we must insist that poker is a thoroughly American 
game, so much so that it has never taken root out- 
side of this country, nor even in Canada, except 
close to the border. General Schenck, our Minis- 
ter to England years ago,- is credited with an at- 
tempt to introduce it into that country for the de- 
lectation of the natives, but what he really did was 
to write a little manual of the game to relieve him- 
self of the necessity of answering a thousand of in- 
dividual questions. It was a passing craze, and we 
cannot flatter ourselves that the great American 
game has taken any hold of our British cousins. It 
is a pity 'tis true, because they don't know what 
they are missing. The Prince of Wales is the sporty 
boy of the English speaking people, and if he had 
been properly inoculated he would have set the 
fashion and then there w^ould have been a grand 
opening for an international show down. But 
he is too old a dog to learn new tricks, and now 



12 JACK POTS. 

we will have to wait for the Duke of York. The 
fact that he' is married and settled makes no dif- 
ference, as it is a notorious fact that married men 
make the best poker players. 

Therefore we may say with truth that America 
monopolizes the game of poker, and it certainly is 
the game that best fits our national character. To 
be a good poker plaj^jer requires nerve, and we have 
that to perfection. It requires money, and we have 
more than any other nation. It is a draft on the 
physical strength, and we are strong; the players 
must have brains, and there is where we lead the 
world. 

In addition to this it is such a simple game to 
learn. Anyone who knows how to play euchre 
or seven-up can be taught the game of poker in 
a half hour — and then spend the rest of his life 
in learning it. That is the main beauty of the 
game — you think you know it all after you have 
played ten hands and then after a hundred seances 
you begin to realize that there is something for you 
to learn. There is so much human nature in it, 
and human nature is so complex. 

From these statements one would think that 
Germans could play the game to perfection but 
the fact that they don't shows that they can't. The 
German is stolid, but he is too stolid. Chess just 
suits him ; it is a game where he can take an hour 
to a move, and everybody that looks on thinks he 



WHAT IS POKER? 13 

is" thinking. Of course the players have to think 
in poker, and theoretically the player is allowed 
to take his own time, but if he takes more* than the 
fraction of a minute somebody is apt to make a 
few remarks. 

Then there is the Frenchman. He is lively and 
vivacious, is apt to back his opinions with a wager 
and has none of the stolidity of the German, but 
he can't play poker. He is too excitable, he talks 
too much, he wants to gabble over the hands that 
have been played, and quick as he is, the game is 
too fast for him. 

You might think that the Englishman would 
make the model poker player, but he doesn't. It 
w^ould be all right if it wasn't for the bluffing part. 
Where the cards play themselves the Englishman 
is there every time, and he is a fine loser, but he 
can't get it through his hair that a man can win on 
the poorest hand through sheer force of nerve. 

In every other game the cards practically play 
themselves, but in poker the man plays the cards. 

For a crowd there is not a finer game on earth 
than faro on the square, but after all it is mere 
chance. Systems don't amoui.t to air^^thing; the 
system player is always broke, and the mjn that 
shuts his eyes and claps down his chips at random 
is just as liable to w^in as the man who has followed 
faro for years. You can't bluff; skill and experi- 
ence count for nothing; you are playing against 



/ 



14 



JACK POTS. 



a box that has no feelings to betray its contents, 
and after you have bucked up against it for ten 
years y«u know no more than the man who has just 
been introduced to the layout. 

Then, unlike all other games, poker never ends. 
When the hock card is in sight in faro, that is the 
end of the deal; euchre and seven-up, and every 
other game has a certain number of points and that 
settles it, but a poker game can go on forever. The 
hundredth deal around does not differ from the 
first and a new player can come in at any stage of 

the game, and have just the 
same chance as the man who 
has been sitting in all 
night. However, 
looked at in an- 
other light, per- 
haps that is one 
of the drawbacks. 
The man who is 
behind does not 
want to quit, 
and the man w^ho 
is ahead is 

• Hello! It's Eleven, boys."' ashauicd tO pull 

out, and between these tw'o feelings the game 
sometimes drags on until the players have to 
quit through sheer weariness. 

It is amusing to see some coteries making up 




WHAT IS POKER? 15 

their minds to limit the game. They sit down and 
unanimously agree that they will not play a minute 
after 11 p. m., because — well, for a whole lot of 
reasons. When 1 1 p. m. comes along, it is let slide 
by, and then at about half past eleven some one 
says: "Hello! it's eleven, boys." Then they agree 
to play one more round, and when that is done, 
it is suggested that there be a round of jack pots. 
After about six rounds of jack pots, then there is 
one or two rounds of something else, and the end 
of it is that the gathering scatters nearer to i a. m. 
than 1 1 p. m. The only remedy for this sort of 
thing is to have one of the players' wives send after 
him, or for one man to get all the chips. 

A good poker player would make a good actor. 
He is compelled to do a lot of acting during a long 
game. There are a few men who are gifted with 
faces that have about as much expression as a lump 
of dough and who never raise or lower their voices. 
It takes a heap of luck to beat that kind of a man. 
and most anybody would sooner play against a fel- 
low wdio ripped and tore around occasionally. It is 
a study to see the face of a man w^ho has just drawn 
a filler to two pairs. As he picks up the cards ana 
sees that it is just wdiat he wants, an expression of 
deep gloom or utter disgust settles on his coun- 
tenance, which then subsides into a state of resig- 
nation, as if he might have know^n that he w^as too 
unlucky to catch anything worth having. He ap- 



1 6 JACK POTS. 

pears to be depressed and he sees the other fellow 
fingering the chips, and it is with the greatest re- 
luctance he sees the bet and just lifts it one or two, 
making the muttered remark that his hand can't 
be beaten all the time. It is only when he makes 
the final raise that he comes from behind the mask, 
and the other fellow^ realizes that he has been lured 
on to destruction. Happy is the man that can 
play a full house and a pair of fours in exactly the 
same way — he has a fortune at his finger ends. 

It is this acting and pretence and chafif that 
makes the game so delightful, and when these 
frillings are absent one might as well play chess. 
It is only a quarter of the fun to play the cards, the 
rest is in playing the players. And what a school 
of control it is ! OfBcers in the army and navy are 
always capital players because they are taught to 
restrain their tempers and emotions in the line of 
duty until it becomes second nature to them. 
Look at Admiral Dewey's face and see a crack po- 
ker player. Note the square jaw, the immobile 
lips and dreamy indifferent eyes that seem to say 
*'I haven't a pair in my hand, and I'm only waiting 
for you to chuck in a chip and you can have the 
pot." And then, without a change of countenance 
you can see him elevate the pot until you wouldn't 
call him under fours. 

The man who loses his temper in a poker game 
will also lose his money. He will always be called 



WHAT IS POKER? i7 

when he bluffs, and when he gets a big hand he 
will never get the value of it, because no one will 
buck against him for fear of offending him by beat- 
ing the hand. If he doesn't enjoy losing his money 
he should affect indifference, or he is allowed to 
indulge in sarcastic remarks, provided they are 
witty as well. Nor does it do any harm to sympa- 
thize with a loser if you are ahead. When he comes 
to think it over afterwards, he w411 know that you 
didn't mean it, but it does him good at the time. 
There is another beauty about the game of poker 
that I almost forgot to mention. The amount of 
the stake has nothing to do with the pleasure of 
the game. I don't mean to say that a high roller 
who has been in the habit of making it ten dollars 
to draw cards every time could calmly contemplate 
five cent ante with a fifty cent limit with the same 
crowd, but take him out of the environment and he 
could. I have played penny ante with a ten cent 
limit, and found myself getting hot around the 
collar when I had a flush beaten for thirty cents. 
When the pot has been fattened by two or three 
raises before the draw and everybody is in, the 
.excitement is something tremendous when every- 
body stays, and the limit is bet the first crack. No, 
I'm not the least ashamed of it. The three other 
men could have lost ten thousand at a sitting and 
never felt it, but they wanted to play poker just for 
the fun of it, with no hard feelings afterwards. But 



1 8 JACK POTS. 

that is true about the way you feel, and I suppose 
is pretty much on the principle of hunting ; the boy 
who is out after rabbits feeling his heart beat as 
high as the man in the jungle lying in wait for a 
tiger. 

The "draw" in poker is an addition to the origi- 
nal game. At first it was played ''straight," that 
is, you got five cards and had no chance to better 
your hand. Once in a very long while you may 
hear of straight poker being played, but it is more 
for the novelty than because it is liked. The draw 
IS certainly the life of poker. There are such vast 
possibilities in it; so many utterly barren hands 
have blossomed into life under the influence of the 
draw that the player is constantly being buoyed 
up with hope. He is in the depths of despair in- 
deed when he throws up his cards and won't draw 
to a little pair when there has been a raise. To 
do that and then look and see 'Svhat you would 
have got," and find that you would have had the 
winning hand, is one of the moments of anguish 
few can bear without wincing. 

Innovations in poker have been many, and it 
would need a special chapter to describe them all,. 
but the only one that has met with universal favor 
is the jack pot. First introduced as a varient, it 
spurred up many a lagging game, and made an 
always exciting wind up to a night's performance. 
From this it naturally progressed to jack pots on 



WHAT IS POKER? 19 

any provocation, and finally on none at all — that is, 
the game became one of all jack pots. This comes 
under the head of the things that if you like them 
they are just the things you like. The main objec- 
tion to jack pots is that they are apt to prove too 
expensive for small wads. While it is true that you 
can play even on a couple of jack pots, it is also 
true that you can go broke with equal facility, as 
you must come in on every deal until some one 
opens the pot, and then maybe you can't come in at 
all. But, as revolutions never go backw^ard, the 
jack pot and its brothers are here to stay. 

Here it may be noted that it is only within the 
last twenty years that straights have been played in 
the Western States. And, of course, if straights 
weren't played neither was the straight flush, so 
that four aces was an absolutely sure thing. The 
introduction of the straight flush was a good thing 
because it took away the sure thing element, and it 
allows a man to bet on four aces with a clear con- 
science. It doesn't seem so much like highway 
robbery when you know there is about one chance 
ill ten thousand that your opponent has a straight 
flush against your aces, although you would be 
paralyzed if he had. 

As said before — several times before, perhaps — 
this is no history of poker, with the dates and the 
names of the men who introduced this or that, and 
when they did it ; neither is it an attempt to teach 



20 JACK POTS. 

anyone the game, which no one has ever yet done 
on paper or ever will; but it may incidently 
straighten out some controversial points over 
which men pull guns occasionally in certain locali- 
ties, and in other places get black in the face talk- 
ing over them. 

There is no harm, however, in putting down 
here, for the benefit of the reader who has only 
heard about poker and never played it, the rank of 
the playing hands, so that he may see how exceed- 
ingly simple the game is. They run thus : 

High card. 

One pair. 

Two pairs. 

Threes. 

Straight. 

Flush. 

Full hand. 

Fours. 

Straight flush. 

Suit makes no difference; that is, a flush of 
hearts is no better than clubs or any other suit; 
only the rank of the cards is considered. Nor have 
I put down here all innovations, such as kilters, 
drags, blazes, and many others which are played 
in various localities, because you have to learn 
them when you run up against the men who play 
them, and that is time enough. 

However this is enough to enable those who 



WHAT IS POKER? 21 

laugh the loudest at a minstrel poker joke to oc- 
casionally have some perception as to what they are 
laughing- at. It is a cold fact that the man who is 
away u]) on poker generally preserves a stony 
silence while the end man is describing his tribula- 
tions with four aces ; it is the other fellow who has 
his girl with him that is convulsed with merriment. 
It is a good play ; it makes her think he is a devil of 
a fellow when out of her sight. 

However, that's neither here nor there. Here 
goes. 



CHAPTER 11. 



THE EARLY DAYS OF POKER STEAMBOAT GAMES 

A MAMMOTH RAISE BOWIE's GOOD DEED, 

We do not think that there is any raih'oad in 
this country where card playing is forbidden in its 
coaches, but in the East and North gambUng is not 

tolerated. Of 
course, if two or 
more players are 
willing to put up 
so much a corner, 
and keep the cash 
out of sight, that 
is their business 
and the conduc- 
tor cannot very 
well interfere, but 
such a thing as 
pla y i n g with 
chips or money in 
sight would be called down in short order. In the 
West and South affairs are on an easier basis, and 
on many roads card betting is an every day affair, 
and creates no remark except from those inti- 
mately concerned. It is not so long ago since gangs 
of professional gamblers regularly worked all the 

22 




Playing with chips or money in sight would 
be called down. 



THE EARLY DAYS OF POKER. 23, 

trains west of the Mississippi River, with every im- 
aginable device to deceive the unwary. So openly 
was this done — and is still done on some roads— 
that it conveyed an impression that the train hands 
stood in with the sharpers, and got a whack at the 
spoil. cl»wm)1 ^ :\ > \ - ....' . r 

That, however, is not a necessary sequence. The 
conductors and brakemen do not perhaps feel any 
great sympathy for the victims, because they ought 
to know enough to keep out of games with 
strangers after all the warnings that have been pub- 
lished. But the train hands would interfere, were 
it not for the fact that they would get small thanks 
from the suckers they saved and on the other hand 
stand a chance of being assaulted by the sharpers. 
So long as there is no rule of the company against 
the practice, the train hands are justified in suppos- 
ing that the passengers know enough to protect 
themselves. 

But, gambling in its palmiest days on the rail- 
roads never began to touch the days when steam- 
boats were the chief means of inter-state travel. 
Before railroads criss-crossed the country in every 
direction, the two main arteries of travel were the 
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Practically there was 
no west or northwest before 1850, and the Ohio 
and Mississippi filled the bill for south, southwest 
and the middle section. 

Those were the davs before the war when cotton 



24 JACK POTS. 

was king. In those days the Southerners had lots 
of money and spent it freely. As a rule they did 
not even wait until the cotton was raised and baled, 
they mortgaged their crops in advance, and if 
money ran too short there was always a slave or 
two that could be disposed of at fancy figures. 

The boats were nothing like the floating palaces 
such as now run on river and lake, but they were 
considered grand affairs for those days, and no 
doubt were comfortable enough, certainly more so 
for a three or four days journey than a railway 
coach is to-day. Here could be seen a group of 
men with broad straw hats, duck or linen suits of 
ample cut, sallow faces, fierce mustaches and keen 
eyes; men who were addicted to mint juleps and 
other fancy drinks ; who were suave in speech and 
extravagantly polite, and who always carried re- 
volvers and knives which they used on small pro- 
vocation. 

To such, card playing came as natural as drink- 
ing and they did more of each than eating or sleep- 
ing. It was nothing unusual for an open game to 
be run in the saloon all day and night from the 
time the boat left the wharf on the upper river until 
she landed at her destination. Private coteries were 
made up and played twenty-four hours at a stretch, 
the deck hands had their games at intervals and the 
pilot at the wheel took a hand when he was off 
duty. In short, everybody played or looked on, 



THE EARLY DAYS OF POKER. 25 

ready to play at the first chance, if they had the 
money. Among friends, notes or I O U's would 
go, but in an open game only money counted, and 
it was "put up or shut up." 

Here was the paradise of the professional poker 
player, and no boat was without its complement. 
They passed all their time traveling up and down 
the river, cheating when they had an opportunity, 
and playing a square game when they must. As 
a rule, they knew their men, and did not attempt 
any tricks on the planters who could lose a fortune 
without a murmur, but who would carve a man 
into bits at the least suspicion of foul play. They 
w^ere loaded with money and won many a hand on 
a bluff, where the game was without limit. If a 
man demanded a sight for his money he might get 
it, but the game would end right there. Generally 
the man kept on until he had up every cent in the 
world, and sometimes even the most reckless 
Southern high roller would not hesitate to risk five 
thousand on a pair of fives. 

Sometimes these gentry were beaten at their 
own game in this respect. On one occasion an 
army paymaster was traveling down the Ohio and 
dropped into a friendly game with three gentle- 
manly sharpers, and incidently dropped about five 
hundred dollars before he knew where he w^as at. 
About the same time he realized that he was up 
against it, and he settled down to get even. 



26 JACK POTS. 

Being an excellent player, he held his own for 
awhile, and even got a little ahead. His opponents 
soon saw that the ordinary methods of cheating 
would not answer with this man, so they resorted 
to crowding him out of every good pot by a sys- 
tem of raising each other. He tumbled to that 
plan also, but could make no objection, and bided 
his time. Presently it came. 

It w^as his deal, so he felt morally certain that it 
was fair, and he dealt himself three queens. The 
age on his left lifted the ante, his chum helped it 
along and the pot was pretty fat when cards were 
drawn. The paymaster did not help his hand, but, 
as he said afterwards he felt sure that it was the 
best out. Then the betting began. 

The man next the age bet ten dollars; the next 
man raised it fifty; the paymaster called, and the 
age raised another fifty. In turn he was lifted a 
hundred, the next man ^raised a hundred and the 
paymaster called again, only to be again raised by 
the age. This sort of thing went on until it be- 
came perfectly evident to the paymaster as well as 
the onlookers that the paymaster was not to be 
allowed to call. 

This merry little game of freeze out went on 
until there was $2,600 on the table, and then at a 
preconcerted signal no doubt, the age raised 
five hundred, the next man saw the five hundred 
and raised it a thousand, and the third man saw 
both raisers and lifted it five thousand. 



THE EARLY DAYS OF POKER. 



27 



The paymastei' looked on in apparent sur- 
prise. 

"Sixty-five hundred?" he said, inquiringly. 

'That's what," replied the age briefly. Then he 
added, as if overcome with disappointment, 'T 
guess that lets me out." 

The paymaster sized up the situation. The 
money up represented the combined capital of the 
gang, and if he drew out, 
the raise would not be 
called, and the five-thousand 
dollar man would 
b e allowed t o 
walk off with the 
pot without a 
show down, and 
the sharpers 
would whack up when they went 
ashore. He put in about two 
minutes in some mighty heavy 
thinking. 

uc 1 >) 1 'tit A^ Now I'D give you fifteen 

bee here, he said at length, minutes to raise the money. 
w-ri ' ,1 1 •, T 1 or the pot's mine. 

ihis rather hits me. I have 
the money to call, but I don't want to risk it all on 
one hand, as I tell you honestly I can't afford to 
lose it. Couldn't you cut down the pot and give 
me a show." 

''I could but I won't," replied the five-thousand 
dollar man, with cool insolence. "You knew this 




28 JACK POTS. 

game was without limit when you came in. 
Now I'll give you just fifteen minutes to raise the 
money, or the pot's mine." . 

The paymaster turned to a tall, grave man stand- 
ing by the table, a well known horse dealer, and an 
old player. 

*'Is that right, Mr. Shaw?" he asked. 

"I am sorry to say it is," was the reply. ''At the 
same time," he added, significantly, ''if you suspect 
any crooked work" — . 

"No, no," said the paymaster, hastily. "I only 
wanted to know my rights in this afiFair. Fifteen 
minutes, you said?" 

"Yes; and no more." 

During the entire game a young well dressed 
man had been standing near the paymaster, watch- 
ing with evident anxiety the progress of the game. 
It was his clerk, although no one knew^ of their re- 
lations and to the clerk the paymaster now turned 
and said, "Charley, go to my state room and bring 
me my valise." 

The clerk who had been very red now turned 
pale, and made an efifort to speak, but was silenced 
with an imperative wave of the hand. He went 
away and when he returned and placed a bulky 
valise by the paymaster's knee, he was trembling 
in every limb. 

By this time the tension was tremendous. Every 
eye was fixed on the paymaster, and the gamblers 



THE EARLY DAYS OF POKER. 29 

began to realize that something was going to hap- 
pen that boded them no good. The paymaster 
opened the bag, and took out package after pack- 
age of crisp banknotes and laid them on the. table. 

"Now, gentlemen," he said, pleasantly, ''since 
you insist upon playing without limit I am obliged 
to acquiesce. I will see your sixty-five hundred 
and raise you fifty thousand !" 

Two of the gamblers gave vent to an involuntary 
cry of surprise, while the third fell back in his chair 
with white face and clenched lips. The paymaster 
put his hand in a casual way in his breast pocket, 
his clerk did the same, and Mr. Shaw moved a step 
nearer the table. But the gamblers were in no 
mood for violence, especially as they saw no sym- 
pathy in the eyes of the spectators. 

The paymaster pulled out his watch, and in a 
tone as insolent as the other had assumed, said : 

'T'll give you just fifteen minutes to see the raise, 
or ril take the pot." 

The three men looked at each other in mute de- 
spair. There wasn't a station within ten miles and 
not a man on the boat that would have let them 
have fifty thousand on four aces under the circum- 
stances. They sat in moody silence for fifteen 
minutes, as if hoping that the money would drop 
through the roof, and at the end of that time, arose 
and walked away with as much indifference as they 
could assume. At the first landing they got off 



30 JACK POTS. 

and the paymaster packed his money back in the 
vaHse. It was Uncle Sam's money to pay troops, 
and if he had lost it, he had determined to kill 
himself; as it was he determined to never again 
play poker with strangers — at least, without a 
Hmit. 

Another anecdote of the river days of long ago 
brings to view a character that could hardly exist 
now and be famous in the same way. The scene 
is laid on the steamer Orleans, running between 
Natchez and New Orleans in the fall of 1832. 

A young man of Natchez, going North in sum- 
mer on his wedding trip, had been commissioned 
by a number of merchants and planters in his 
neighborhood to collect various accounts due them 
in New York and other places which he proposed 
to visit. The young man was the soul of honor, 
but not very strong in resolution; in fact, he was 
rather an easy mark if worked in the proper way. 

Unfortunately this became known to the ring of 
gamblers who were working the rivers, and they 
laid their plans accordingly. Some of their mem- 
bers made his acquaintance in New York, and 
learned that he would return South by way of 
Pittsburg, where he was to take the boat for Louis- 
ville, and after spending a few days there, take an- 
other boat for New Orleans that stopped at 
Natchez. In pursuance of the plan, one of the 
gang met him on the boat at Pittsburg and intro- 



THE EARLY DAYS OF POKER. $1 

duced him to two alleged Louisiana planters who 
made themselves quite agreeable. On the way 
down to Louisville, several friendly games of poker 
were played, in all of which the young man came 
out a little ahead, so that he was in high good 
humor when they got ready to pluck him in ear- 
nest, which was on board the Orleans. 

The game was played with a short deck of thirty- 
two cards, the same as a euchre deck, which of 
course was conducive to holding fat hands in al- 
most every deal, and led to high betting. The 
three confederates worked the cross lifting trick 
on the victim, together with an occasional bit of 
cheating, until the poor fellow had but a few thou- 
sands left when the boat neared Vicksburg, where 
it was the sharpers' intention to give him the shake. 
The poor fellow was already nearly crazed w^ith 
his losses, realizing that he was not only ruined but 
dishonored, and his yoimg wife was in terrible dis- 
tress over this unlooked for termination of their 
honeymoon. Yet he kept on playing on the des- 
perate chance of redeeming his money. 

When the boat was within a half day's run of 
Vicksburg there came on board a tall man with a 
smooth shaven face, who looked like a preacher, 
and he with others stood looking at the game in 
the men's cabin. x\t midnight the last dollar of the 
dupe had been raked in, and rising from the table, 
he rushed wildlv to the side of the vessel, and was 



32 



JACK POTS. 



only prevented by his wife's arms from throwing 
himself overboard. 

Suddenly the clerical looking man made his ap- 
pearance by the side of the distracted wife, and 

said, quietly, 'Take 



him to your cabin, 
and watch h i m 
closely until I re- 
turn." 

Going back to the 
cabin where the 
gamblers were hav- 
ing a hilarious time 
at the bar, the stran- 
ger drew out an im- 
mense roll of notes, 
and asked the bar- 
tender to change a 
hundred dollar bill. 

Was only prevented by his wife's arms from ^ ^ ^^^^ "-^ Oblige 

throwing himself overboard. VOU but I Cau't " 

was the reply. '' Perhaps some of these gentlemen 
can do it." 

One of the gamblers very readily made the de- 
sired change, and also invited the stranger to have 
a drink. They soon fell into conversation, and it 
was not long until a game of poker was proposed, 
and after some demur the stranger consented. 

The ante was five dollars, and as there was al- 




THE EARLY DAYS OF POKER. 33 

ways a straddle, it rarely cost less than forty dol- 
lars to play, and the betting" ran rather high. The 
stranger managed to keep a little ahead of the 
game until near morning, and then came the 
crucial hand. 

The pot was fattened up to nearly five hundred 
dollars before the draw, and then the betting was 
fast and furious. Finally two ol the players 
dropped out, leaving only a big whiskered fellow 
and the stranger. As the bets rose by thousands 
the gambler's face began to assume an anxious 
look, while the other was pale and cool, rather 
sleepy in fact, although he never took his eyes off 
his adversary's hands. 

At last more than seventy thousand dollars 
were piled up on the cloth, and the stranger said 
quietly, "I call you." Then he added sharply: 
*'One moment, please." He laid his cards face up 
on the table, disclosing four kings and a ten. 'This 
is poker, and five cards constitute a hand. If you 
can show four aces, and no more than five cards 
in your hand, the pot is yours. But," and here, 
with a sudden movement he drew from his coat a 
long and keen knife, ''if you have more or less than 
five cards I will kill you where you sit." 

The gambler held his cards in his hands in front 
of him, and it was noticed that they trembled per- 
ceptibly. The stranger held the deadly knife in 
his hand, and although he was still pale, and his 



34 



JACK POTS. 



voice had not been raised above its usual tones, 
his eyes glowed like fire, and he looked like an 
avenging demon. All three gamblers were armed, 
but none made a movement to draw a weapon, and 
they sat there for a minute the very pictures of 
baffled villainy. 

''Come," said the stranger, smoothly. "Your 
hand has been called; what have you got? Don't 

take your hands 
out of sight ; show 
down the cards 
just as they are." 
The gambler 
wavered, looked 
at his compan- 
ions furtively and 
saw no encour- 
agement in their 
faces, and then 
with a muttered curse, threw 
his hand into the deck. The 
stranger with his left hand 
took off his large felt hat, swept the money into it, 
and clapped it on his head, keeping the knife in his 
right hand all the time. 

"Now, gentlemen," he said, suavely, 'T am 
going to restore the money you have robbed to 
the victim. It is fortunate for you," he added, turn- 
ing to his opponent, "that you did not disclose 




But! and here, with a sudden 
movement he drew from his 
coat a long and keen knife. 



THE EARLY DAYS OF POKER. 35 

your hand with its four aces, because it had six 
cards, and you wouldn't have been ahve now. The 
next time you fleece a gentleman learn to have 
more mercy." 

As he turned to go after this little lecture, one 
of the gamblers cried: ''Who the devil are you?" 

"James Bowie," was the answer. 

The voice was like velvet, but the sharpers 
jumped as if shot. Bowie was known from one end 
of the river to the other, and it was a surprising 
chance that he had not been recognized by any one 
in the cabin. But the name was enough ; the gam- 
blers shrank away from this dreaded man who, 
without another glance, made his way to the cabin 
where the wife was still trying to soothe her hus- 
band's grief. 

Bowie emptied the contents of his hat before the 
astounded pair, and in a few minutes the young 
man was in possession of all that he had lost. 

"Now, my dear sir," said the noted duellist, "let 
me advise you as a man of the world to never 
touch another card. You see how nearly it has 
brought you to shame ; believe me it can never 
bring you happiness. Before I leave you, let me 
have your sworn promise." 

The young man took the oath with tears in his 
eyes, and then begged that his benefactor accom- 
pany him home, but Bowie refused, and at the first 
landing place, got off the boat, and they never saw 
him afterward. 



CHAPTER III. 

POKER IN WASHINGTON A STORY OF HENRY^ CLAY 

CABINET PLAYERS MAHONE'S RULE 

WHEN REED WAS CALLED. 

Washington is popularly regarded as the great 
poker center of the United States, and there are 
many reasons for the belief. There is a feverish 
air about Washington life that conduces to card 
playing. Public office is largely a game of chance 
in this country, despite the strides made by the 
Civil Service, and the man who goes to Washing- 
ton in an official capacity feels that he will be there 
to-day and home to-morrow. Very few of the thou- 
sands of clerks regard their places as more than 
temporary until they have been there at least five 
years, and by that time they have contracted habits 
of careless spending that they can hardly throw off. 

Then there comes every two years to the na- 
tion's capital a number of new congressmen who 
feel flushed with wealth on a salary of five thou- 
sand a year. Many of them could not earn half 
that sum at their occupation, and especially as the 
money comes easily they fritter away a great deal 
of it in dissipation. To these classes are to be 
added the diplomatic corps, many of the attaches 
being young bloods sent abroad for the good of 

36 



POKER IN WASHINGTON. 37 

the family, and they have nothing to do with their 
salaries but to spend them in good living, and that 
includes card playing. In addition, when Congress 
is in session, the whole town is in a fever of excite- 
ment, and the easiest way to work off the surplus 
steam is with a pack of cards. 

Washington is full of poker stories, because 
from all accounts, every administration, at least 
from Jackson's down, indulged in the game. Lin- 
coln didn't ; he was of too serious mood to care for 
the game; and of course, Hayes wouldn't touch a 
card; although there is reason to think that he 
knew something about the game. Arthur was a 
splendid player; Garfield, only fair. Cleveland's 
cabinet was full of poker players; and — although 
you wouldn't think it to look at his grave and al- 
most solemn features — Gresham was king of them 
all. Carlisle is a shrewd player but lacks nerve — 
that is, he can't bluff 'successfully. 

It doesn't sound likely, but they say that Cleve- 
land did not learn to play poker until he came to 
Washington. He went off on one of his famous 
duck hunting expeditions with Gresham and Car- 
lisle, and when he came back he had been inocu- 
lated. After that he took a hand whenever the 
opportunity offered, but he always played a small 
game ; rarely winning or losing more than ten dol- 
lars at a sitting. Dan Lamont used to play heavily 
before he got into public life, but w^hen he saw the 
possibilities he dropped poker. , 

V 



\^ 



38 



JACK POTS. 



Going back to the old timers, practically all of 
the congressmen before the war played poker, and 
did not try to conceal it as they do now. Henry 
Clay was a famous player, and won a fortune in 
his time. There is a funny story about Clay that 
illustrates the character of the man. 

There was in Washington an old darkey whom 
Clay had befriended, a poor fellow who had quite 

a reputation 
among his people 
as a preacher. 
One day as the 
great Kentucky 
senator was 
strolling down 
Pennsylvania Av- 
enue, the old fel- 
low tackled him. 
It was on Sunday 




mornmg. 



B o b," 
'you're 



"Well, 
said he, 
up early." 

''Y e s, Marse 
Henry; de airly 
bird ketches de 
worm." 
''Oh, you are worm hunting, are you?" 
"No, Marse Henry," said the old fellow, sol- 
emnly, "TsQ lookin' for help for my little church." 



Bob, here is fifty dollars that I won at 
poker last night. 



POKER IN WASHINGTON. 39 

"I won't give you a cent," said Clay, decidedly. 
"I gave you something only last week for your 
church." 

"Yes, Marse Henry, so you did; and dat," rais- 
ing his eyes piously, ''dat's a treasure laid up for 
you in Hebben." 

''Oh, is it?" said the Senator, smiling. Then he 
pulled out of his pocket a roll of bills, and con- 
tinued. "Bob, here is fifty dollars I won at po- 
ker last night. Now, if you can reconcile it with 
your conscience to use money got in that way 
for church purposes, take it along." 

Old Bob bowed and pulled his cap. 

^'Sarvant, Marse Henry; thankee, sah. God do 
move in a musterious way his wonders to per- 
form." 

x-\nd he walked ofi. with the money. 

Another Kentucky man, a senator, although not 
from that State, says that his seat there and all he 
has besides is due to a poker game, and tries to 
prove it with the following story. 

''I was born and bred in old Kentucky, and 
strange as it sounds, it was in a highly moral town 
where games of chance were not tolerated. It was 
no use bucking against the law; no matter what 
the position in life of the offender, if he was caught 
gambling up he went. But of course there was 
gambling, and the very lawyers and judges that en- 
forced the law would take every opportunity to 
have a quiet game, 



40 JACK POTS. 

"One night, during a June term of court, the 
judge and visiting lawyers arranged for a game, 
and as it would never do to make such a venture in 
the hotel, a flatboat moored at the foot of the levee 
was pitched upon as an ideal place. Jt was supposed 
that it would be out of sight and hearing of the 
moral little burg. 

"Accordingly that night two tables were set up 
in the cabin, and nine members of the legal profes- 
sion were bending over the game with all the na- 
tive ardor of Kentucky gentlemen. It was about 
this time that I, in company with a friend, strolled 
in the vicinity of the flatboat. I was about twenty 
years of age and had no money, and my friend was 
on a par. 

''On discovering the old folks thus engaged a de- 
sire to be humorous swept over us. We were law 
students ; they were full fledged, and that was rea- 
son enough for the joke. We cast off the boat, 
and silently she drifted away on the dark bosom 
of the river. The grave and reverend gamesters 
drew and filled and straddled, until along about two 
o'clock in the morning, and then Colonel Bugg 
concluded he had better quit, and look over his 
brief for next day. The gallant old fellow put on 
his hat, bade every one good night, walked off 
where he thought the gang plank ought to be — 
and w^alked into twenty feet of water ! 

"Of course there was a howl for help, and he 



POKER IN WASHINGTON. 



41 



was fished out with considerable difficulty. Then 
the startling discovery was made that the boat 
was twenty miles down stream. The whoops and 
yells of the voy- 
agers finally 
brought a tug to 
the rescue, and 
they were towed 
back to town — 
only to find the 
town officers 
waiting to run in 
the whole party. 
In the frank en- 
thusiasm of youth 
we had related 
our doings, and 
there was no es- 
cape from the 
stern rule of jus- 
tice. 

'There was a 
terrible row over the affair. Publicly we were com- 
mended, privately we were threatened with death 
by the gentlemen we had betrayed, and we knew 
that some of them would shoot on sight. We took 
counsel of our fears, and lit out for the West. 

'That was forty-five years ago. My partner in 
villainy is now a United States Judge, and I am 




Walked off where he thought the gang 
plank ought to be. 



42 JACK POTS. 

a Senator. We often discuss the past, and we lay 
everything to that flatboat poker game." 
^ When General Mahone held Virginia in his vest 
pocket he was a figure in Washington poker cir- 
cles. He was cool and nervy, and withal played 
poker Hke a gentleman. 

Once he was in a game at Chamberlin's, which 
included several Senators, and nobody was winning 
or losing very much ; in fact the game was rather 
slow which probably suggested what follows. A 
deal was just beginning where Mahone was the 
age, and the General had anted when a waiter 
called him from the room to speak to some gentle- 
man who wanted to see him. 

As he closed the door behind him the Western 
Senator who was dealing remarked : 

''Let's put up a joke on Mahone. I'll deal him 

three queens on the go-off and fix up B next 

him with a straight flush, and then let Mahone get 
another queen in the draw. I'd like to see how 
long and how hard the General will bet four 
queens. Of course we can give the money back 
afterwards." 

The others thought this a good joke, and the 
hands were fixed up accordingly. Everybody had 
picked up his hand when the General came back, 
and as he took his seat and reached for his cards, 
the dealer remarked, ''Hurry up, General, we're 
waiting for you." 



POKER IN WASHINGTON. 43 

General Mahone looked at his hand, discarded, 
and said: ''Give me one card." 

The dealer gave the General the fourth queen 

which lay on the top of the deck, and gave B 

next to him one card — the diamond he was after. 

And then they all leaned back to see B and the 

General buck each other, and to hear what the 
General would say when he lost on four queens. 

It was B 's first bet, and he threw down a 

white chip. Of course everybody was confident 
the General would raise him. That was where they 
were disappointed. To their amazement, and with- 
out a moment's hesitation, without a word of com- 
ment or any gesture that would indicate either sur- 
prise or disgust, Mahone threw his hand into the 

discard, and as nobody had bet against B he 

took in the little pot without opposition. 

Mahone then reached for the deck and pro- 
ceeded to calmly shuf^e the cards for the next deal. 
The others looked at each other in surprise, and the 
Senator who had put up the hands, said with a 
laugh : 

"B , you had better give the General his 

ante." 

Then they all laughed, while Mahone betrayed 
mild surprise. 

''Why didn't you bet your four queens?" asked 
another player. "Did you suspect a joke or think 
some one was trying to rob you?" 



44 JACK POTS. 

"No, sir," replied General Mahone, with perfect 
gravity, "I have the utmost confidence in the hon- 
esty of every gentleman present, and I haven't the 
remotest idea that any one of you would rob me, 
but I make an inflexible rule to never bet a high 
hand when I have been absent through the deal. 
To be out of the room and then to return and pick 
up three queens and get a fourth on a one card 
draw is to me very alarming. So, of course, I 
threw my hand in the discard." 

**Well, General," said the Senator who dealt the 
cards, ''it was a joke, and I must compliment you 
on the manner in which you received it. It showed, 
sir, that you are a Southern gentleman, and was 
complimentary alike to yourself and to us." 

Then they called in a couple of cold bottles, and 
the game went on. 
%/ Ex-Speaker Reed used to relax on poker once 
in a while, but he was very moderate, and they say 
in Washington that he never raised more than fifty 
cents in his hfe. He was also noted for never win- 
ning anything, but takes his ill fortune with cool 
good nature. 

On one occasion at the Shoreham a small game 
was raging with great fury, and by some miracle 
Reed managed to capture a nine full. He saw / 
visions of fortune before him, especially as Riley of 
Pennsylvania^^a man who would bet a quarter 
without a quiver — showed a disposition to dispute 



POKER IN WASHINGTON. 



45 



the pot with him. So he went diHgently to work to 
raise Riley. And the reckless Riley on his part 
invariably raised the Speaker, without any rev- 
erence whatever. 

So they kept see-sawing until the total of the 
wealth on the green cloth must have equalled six 
dollars. At last 
Reed called, and 
to his disgust 
Riley laid down a 
queen full. As he 
spread the cards 
out on the table, 
Reed peered over 
them with much 
the same air tliat 
he used to employ 
to count the 

House on a rismg He saw visions of fortunes before him. 

vote, and then as 

he settled back in his chair, he drawled forth dis- 
gustedly that formula wherewith the Speaker an- 
nounces that a call for the ayes and noes has been 
voted. 

"Clearly a sufficient number," he said, and Riley 
raked in the pot. 

(^Senator Wolcott is one of the coolest men liv- 
ing when engaged in a poker game. Like most 
men whose early manhood has been spent on the 




46 JACK POTS. 

frontier, he learned the vahie of a poker hand, and 
he was known as a hmit player all over Colorado 
before he ever gained any fame as a lawyer. 

Wolcott once found himself in a poker game 
where three of the other players were working a 
sure thing. They were professionals and were after 
a big bundle that Wolcott was known to have, as 
well as looking out for the wad of Durkin, the fifth 
player, a mining operator. Durkin was uncon- 
scious but Wolcott knew in twenty minutes after 
the first hand was dealt that the intention was to 
rob him, and set his mind to find his way out. 

At last he was dealt a pat flush of diamonds, 
made up of the five, seven, eight, nine and jack. 
He skinned these cards over and did a heap of 
thinking. He felt in his bones that a flush would 
be no good on the show down, but he chipped in 
and stayed to draw cards. 

He wasn't raised before the draw, and that 
strengthened his impression, so he looked over his 
red hand and concluded to draw a card in order if 
possible to straighten the sequence. He pondered 
a long time which to let go but finally threw away 
the jack, and called for a card. The dealer could 
not conceal his surprise at his wanting any, but 
gave him the card. 

Wolcott picked it up and found that he had got 
the six spot of diamonds. He never turned a hair. 
The betting began and he nursed the sequence, and 



POKER IN WASHINGTON. 47 

just stayed along, letting the other fellows do the 
raising. At last it got down to Wolcott and one 
of the professionals. Finally there was a call, and 
the other man showed four queens. Wolcott laid 
down the five, six, seven, eight and nine of dia- 
monds and swept in the pot. Then he took Durkin 
by the collar and marched him out of the room. 
He said afterwards that it was the greatest piece of 
luck that he ever had in a poker game. 
VSenator Harris, of Tennessee, used to be an in- 
veterate poker player, and his limit was penny- 
ante. During the struggle over the Wilson Tarifif 
Bill, when the whole country was churned up, the 
House was surprised one day to see the venerable 
•statesman wandering about inquiring for Repre- 
uSentative Tarsney. When he found him, the tw^o 
men engaged in an animated conversation for ten 
minutes, and the people in the gallery, and all the 
correspondents were tremendously excited. Tars- 
ney was a member of the Ways and Means Com- 
mittee, and this talk with Harris was no doubt due 
to some tariff complication that would affect the 
pending bill. 

The correspondents hammered out many an ex- 
citing tale about this conference, and it was only 
by interviewing Tarsney that the truth came out. 

"Tarsney," said Senator Harris, solemnly, *T 
want you to come to my rooms to-night to play 
penny ante. Do you play penny ante, Tarsney?" 



48 JACK POTS. 

''Yes," said Tarsney, with equal solemnity, "I 
do, whenever I can gain the consent of my wife." 

'Then," said Senator Harris, fiercely, "get your 
wife's consent^ and come over to my room to-night. 
Blackburn will be here, and I will get DuBois. 
The limit is twenty-five cents, and the ante is two- 
call-five. You know the rules of my room, sir?" 

"No, I don't." 

"Well, sir," went on Senator Harris, still keeping 
up his tone of determined fury, "the rules of my 
room are these. As we sit down to the game I 
give every gentleman present a drink of Tennes- 
see whiskey that is fifty years old, sir. After that 
nobody gets a drink unless he loses money to me. 
If those rules are agreeable to you, sir, I shall be 
proud to see you at my rooms to-night." 

Tarsney was there, and he took care to lose a pot 
occasionally to the host. 

As a rule the diplomatic corps is treated with 
elaborate politeness by the residents of Washing- 
ton as it is Understood that they are not used to 
our ways and it is advisable to not convey wrong 
impressions. But occasionally, the love of a joke 
gets away with the young bloods, and they play a 
prank. 

Herr Von S of the German embassy was a 

popular diplomat, and had been taught the game 
of poker, or the rudiments, and that was the basis 
of the joke. A party of young bloods got him 



POKER IN WASHINGTON. 49 

into a social game and on the fifth or sixth hand, 
dealt him six cards. On discovering this fact, he 
laid them down, remarking that he would not play 
that hand. 

The dealer asked the reason, and when told, pre- 
tended to be highly offended, and declared that it 
was a reflection on him, and that the German must 
play the hand. The foreigner reiterated the state- 
ment that he would not play it. Then the fun 
began. 

The players began to wrangle among themselves 
over the decision, took sides, and in a few minutes, 
there was a flash of steel, pistols leaped from hip 
pockets, dirks, bowie knives, and even razors w^ere 
drawn. The air also became lurid with profanity 
that would have enlightened a cowboy in the elas- 
ticity and scope of the English language. 

Appalled at such an amazing spectacle, Herr 

Von S must have felt cold chills running up 

and down his spine, but he never weakened. With 
a nerve and manliness that equalled anything ever 
seen on the field of battle, he rose to his feet, and 
said, ''Gentlemen, I know not this game entirely, 
but I have been told that I am right. I will not 
play these cards. My life is in your hands.". 

The joke had gone too far however for the 
young bloods to be satisfied with such a tame end- 
ing, and they kept up their wild whoops, and the 
flourishing of weapons. Then they apparently be- 



so 



JACK POTS. 



gan fighting among themselves, shooting point 
blank, clutching throats with vengeful fury and 
stabbing like wild men. In the midst of it all the 
German made his way out of the room. 

Afterward, in 
A f tA<>^^^ speaking of the 

truly American 
game of cards 
in which he had 
taken part, he 
gave a brief and 
very graphic 
account of the 
manner in 
which his exit 
had been accomplished: 

"I was a great many 
times getting out of the 
door." 

One night on 
Hill there was a 




"I will not play these cards. My 
life is in your hands." 



Capitol 
remark- 
able game of poker, in which no Congressmen or 
diplom.ats were engaged. There were just four old 
cronies, all business men. They had just dropped 
in, and began to talk over old times when they 
were youngsters. Some one remembered the way 
they used to play poker with gun wads for chips 
and a dry goods box in the back shed for a table, 
so it wasn't singular that some other one suggested 



POKER IN WASHINGTON. 51 

that it would be a good idea to have a game just 
for old times. 

The host got out a deck of cards and his wife's 
button bag, and it happened that there were 
twenty buttons apiece. Then there was a raking of 
pockets which disclosed the fact that there wasn't 
more than two dollars in cash in the crowd. 

The game then proceeded, but after only a few 
hands the host remarked in a casual way that he 
wished they were playing sure enough poker. The 
man to his left skinned over his cards, acquiesced 
in the desire, and, strange to say, the two other 
men said they were more than willing to make it 
the real thing for that hand anyhow. 

The buttons had been bet already, and as there 
was no money in the party, it was decided to use 
simple articles easy of identification as markers 
for the amounts each player should bet. With this 
understanding the limit was taken off, and the fun 
began. 

The host bet ten dollars and put up a cigar as a 
marker, and the next man raised it and shoved in 
a key ring as a representative of forty dollars. So 
it went around until there was on the table an ag- 
glomeration of the various things men carry in 
their pockets. 

When they got ready to draw cards the expect 
ant dealer was amazed to find that none of the 
players wanted any, and just to be in the fashion 



52 



JACK POTS. 



he didn't take any himself. Then the betting be- 
gan furiously, and everything the players had witli 

the m, whose disap- 
pearance would not 
cause too much 
inquiry on the 
part of their 
wives were put 
up as markers for 
their bets. 

At last it came 
around to the 
host for the fifth 
time and he de- 
termined to call. 
He reached out 
and picked up an 
empty coal scut- 
tle. 

"This goes for 
sixty dollars," he 
said, hoarsely. "I've got four jacks." 

The other players laid down respectively a nine 
full on five, a seven full on kings and four deuces. 
The winner swept all the markers into the coal 
scuttle and the game broke up. The next day the 
coal scuttle man received $260 apiece from each of 
the other men. 




"This goes for sixty dollars " he said, 
hoarsely, "I've got four jacks." 



CHAPTER IV. 

POKER IN LONDON AND PARIS JOHN BULL'S TWO 

PAIR A GAME WITH THE PRINCE 

OF WALES. 

It is a long cry from Washington to London, 
but not where cards are concerned. As explained 
at the beginning poker has never taken deep root 
in Great Britain, but it occasionally crops out with 
generally humorous results. 

On the staff of the American legation in London 
some years ago there was a Major, who, like all 
army officers, could play a stiff game, but who had 
been rather out of his element for several months, 
as our Minister was a man who frowned on gam- 
bling in any form and that kept the staff subdued. 
But one day there came to town a couple of the 
Major's friends from the land of the stars and 
stripes, and the trio had two or three little sittings 
to the refreshment of all concerned. 

Then one night the Americans brought to the 
Major's rooms a Scotch manufacturer and an Eng- 
lish M. P., a regular John Bull, gentlemanly and 
pig-headed as they make them. After drinks and 
cigars around, one of the Americans suggested 
poker, but the Alajor demurred. Poker, he re- 
marked, was a very dangerous game, particularly 

53 



54 JACK POTS. 

as his friends (he modestly omitted any reference 
to himself) were hot stuff, and it was possible to 
lose considerable money at the pastime without 
half trying. 

At this the Scotchman remarked that he had 
learned the game in the States, and he thought he 
was cautious enough to restrain his ardor, and 
the Englishman said that he knew he had to learn 
the game sometime in his life, and this seemed a 
fitting opportunity. 

''V\\ take five pounds' worth of chips as a 
starter," said he, "and if some one will kindly mark 
the value of the hands on a piece of paper, I'll pick 
up the game as I go along." 

"I don't like the idea of playing poker with a 
man who knows absolutely nothing about the 
game, particularly in my own rooms," said the 
Major, with an anxious look at the others. 

But the Englishman was insistent, and as there 
was risk of offending him if refusal was persisted 
in, the Major gave way. The American who sat 
on the right of the M. P. marked the value of the 
hands on a sheet of paper, and passed it around. 
It was all right, and, after a few other minutes 
passed in explaining about the deal and the draw, 
the game started. 

The limit was five shillings. For an hour there 
was no decided advantage, and although, like all 
new players, the Englishman had a proclivity for 



POKER IN LONDON AND PARIS. 55 

coming in on every hand, he held his own. He 
also showed the peculiarity of new players in re- 
garding two pairs as a world beater, and he re- 
marked several times that they looked much bigger 
than threes. 

In the middle of the second hour there w^as an 
intermission for refreshments. You know what 
that is. Nobody stops playing; time is too pre- 
cious for that. Each man grabs a sandwich or 
whatever there is to devour and chews at it, while 
with the other hand he skins his cards or fingers 
his chips. This was a new feature to the English- 
man, and it seemed to affect his luck when the 
game was resumed in earnest. At any rate he 
made a half dozen disastrous bets, on all of which 
the Major profited. 

Then the game went on in a monotonous way, 
and the Americans could not fail to observe that 
the M. P. was thinking that this great American 
game was no great shakes after all. Then, of 
course, came the star hand, of which there is al- 
ways one if you play long enough. 

It was the Major's deal, and the Englishman had 
the age. The American on his left dropped out, 
but all th'e others came in. There was a raise be- 
fore the draw, and the man who had dropped out 
looked at the Englishman's hand and advised him 
to stay. The Englishman took one card ; the other 
three drew three cards. 



56 



JACK POTS. 



The first man bet a chip, the Scotchman saw it, 
the Major Hfted it five shilhngs and the M. P. bet 
the Hmit. The American — who had three tens and 
a pair of fours — reciprocated, the Scotchman pru- 
dently dropped out, and the Major tihed it the 
hmit. The American looked at his full house with 
an inquiring air, and simply stayed, but when the 
Major and the honorable member from Stogis-on- 
the-Des raised the limit again, he soured on his 

hand and threw it 
into the deck. 
This left the bet- 
ting between the 
Major and John 
Bull. 

After about six 
raises the Major 
thought it had 
gone far enough, 
and said, warn- 
ingly, 'T'd go a 
bit slow, old man, 
remember, this is your first 
game of poker." 

By this time the other 
American had taken a look 
at the Englishman's hand, 
and whispered something 
in his ear, with the result that he promptly 




The three had a drink and seemed 

so hilarious that they 

nearly choked. 



POKER IN LONDON AND PARIS. 57 

raised the Major. Then both Americans went 
oft to the other end of the room where there 
was a bottle of the real stuff, and took a drink with 
much merriment. After about ten more raises the 
Englishman had to buy more chips, which gave 
the Major another opportifnity to remind him that 
this was his first game of poker and that he must 
not bet over the strength of his hand. 

"That's all right," responded the stubborn John 
Bull, and he threw another half sovereign in the 
pot. 

''Now, old chap," said the Major, solemnly, 
"don't blame me if you lose your money." 

At this the two Americans took the Scotchman 
over to the sideboard, and the three had a drink 
and seemed so hilarious that they nearly choked. 
The Major was rather nettled at this, and remarked 
that they had better be giving their friend some 
good advice, than laughing like hyenas. The only 
result of their admonition was that the three men 
went off into convulsions, and one man actually 
went into the adjoining bed room, threw himself 
down, and fairly yelled. Whenever the Major sug- 
gested to the Englishman that he really ought to 
call or else he would be sorry for it, there came 
another roar from the trio. 

Finally John Bull got to the end of his money 
and putting his last half sovereign in the pot, he 
said, "I'll call you. What have you got?" 



S8 JACK POTS. 

Hearing this the others rushed up to the table. 
The Major looked at the pot, but did not reach for 
it. He did not want to be in a hurry because he 
knew it was his, and he hated to hurt the English- 
man's feelings. At last he said very slowly and 
almost sorrowfully, "I've got four jacks." 

The Englishman laid his cards face upwards on 
the table, and asked ''Do I wan?" He had four 
kings. 

It took the Major some time to take in the full 
humor of the situation, but he did. The painful 
feature of the affair was that the Englishrnan 
thought he was betting his money on two pairs. 
He had simply followed the advice of the Ameri- 
can, who, upon seeing his cards, had advised him to 
''bet until he was dead." 

He did not go quite so far as that, which was a 
good thing for the Major. 

It is only a step across the Channel, and we are 
in Paris — "gay Paree,'' you know, where all good 
Americans go when they die. Of course Parisians 
play cards, and they actually play poker, but in a 
way that Americans would hardly recognize. It is 
a kind of mixture of a sand bag and a freeze out, 
with the dangerous qualities of each. 

It starts ofif in a club, and a steward or croupier, 
or whatever his name may be, holds in his hands a 
list of names. The first six on the list are "sitting 
in." Each has declared his stake ; one $50, another 



POKER IN LONDON AND PARIS 59 

$80, another $75, and so on, the limit of the dec- 
laration being, for instance, $100. Chips arc 
handed to each to represent the varying values, 
and the game begins. 

The limit of betting is the amount of chips be- 
fore the player. The man with the $100 worth of 
chips, to make a supposition, bets all of it on the 
third deal. What becomes of -the man with $50, 
if he has a good hand? He may put up his fifty 
dollars, and get a sight for his money, and so with 
ihe others. If he loses he is gone — scratched off 
the list — and the steward reads ofT another name 
to take his place. 

There is no half way about it; it is win or bust 
all the time. The Frenchmen have understood 
that poker is a game of bluff and- high betting, and 
nothing else ; they have missed entirely the quieter 
features that make it loved. If four out of the six 
are willing to play moderately, following some- 
thing like the value of their hands, the other two 
would shame them, dare them, crowd them. The 
average Frenchman cannot stand to be ridiculed. 
Around the table is a double row of spectators, and 
they are in a continual state of awe and admira- 
tion over the skill and daring of the bluffers, so 
the sensible fellows are g^oaded until in a rash mo- 
ment they plunge down their little pile, and out 
they go. 

Every once in a while an American gets intro- 



6o JACK POTS. 

duced to this French game of poker, and makes 
up his mind to stand these sports on their heads, 
but he doesn't. There are too many anoularities 
about the game for him to grasp in less than a half 
dozen sittings, and by that time his money is all 
gone. 

On one of his flying trips to the Continent, our 
Parson Davies ran up against this sweet game, and 
after being scratched five nights in succession, de- 
clared that he thought poker as played in Paris de- 
cidedly immoral. 

It does not follow from this that there is no real 
poker played in Paris. There are enough Ameri- 
cans, and all kinds of Americans to introduce any- 
thing. They play among themselves, and have in- 
troduced it into boarding houses, but they cannot 
get the Frenchmen to play the game among them- 
selves as it should be played. What the Parisians 
need is an American Minister like Schenck to edu- 
cate them. 

As said once before General Schenck was not 
really an inveterate poker player, although he will 
go down to history with a reputation on account of 
the little treatise he wrote on the game, but he 
could play with the best of them when in the 
humor. A big corporation lawyer tells a story that 
illustrates what a high roller Schenck could be. 

'T was in London on business," said the lawyer, 
"and having known Schenck in America, called on 



POKER IN LONDON AND PARIS. 6i 

him. He greeted me very cordially, showed me 
around town and in a general way did the proper 
thing. 

" 'By the way/ said he, as we were about to sep- 
arate one morning, 'what are you going to do this 
evening?' 

*'I replied that I had nothing particular in view. 

" Then,' said Schenck, cordially, 'there is going 
to be a poker game at the Langham, and if you 
care for the exercise I'd like to take you in. The 
Prince of Wales will be one of the party.' 

"Of course I couldn't resist that. I reflected 
that it isn't often that an American citizen has a 
chance to draw cards, raise and bluff against a real 
prince, not an imitation Russian afTair, but a sure 
enough heir apparent. I didn't care two cents for 
poker — and, as a true born American, I ought not 
to have cared for a prince of the blood — but it 
would be an experience to tell my children wdien 
they grew up, how their daddy beat the Prince of 
Wales. Of course I counted on that. 

"So I told Schenck I'd be there without fail, and 
he expressed himself as very well pleased. One 
thing I forgot. I didn't ask about the limit, but as 
I had about two thousand dollars in good Ameri- 
can money, I felt elegantly and superciliously safe. 
Even if there was pretty high play, I would be 
there. 

"Six o'clock came and I was at the Langham, 



62 JACK POTS. 

and the others came m later. With the Prince of 
Wales came Anselm Rothschild and the Duke of 
Marlborough, and these with ^Minister Schenck 
and myself were to make up the game. I want to 
say right here that the Prince is a gentleman from 
the ground up. If he feels himself any better than 
his fellow men, and no one can blame him if he 
does, he never shows it, at least to Americans. 
They have a saying in England that if the tight 
little island ever becomes a republic, the Prince of 
Wales would be elected President by a unanimous 
vote, and I believe it. 

*7ust after I was presented to the Prince I asked 
Schenck in a whisper what limit was usually fixed 
at these poker festivals, and, to my horror, he re- 
plied in a careless aside that there was no limit. 

"The Prince wouldn't listen to such thing as a 
limit, explained Schenck. It would be beneath his 
dignity to suggest a thing like that. 

'T felt a cold chill running down my back, and 
my two thousand dollars reposing in the vault of 
the Bank of England began to assume the appear- 
ance of very small potatoes. Here I was about to 
buck up against England's heir apparent with the 
entire revenues of Great Britain to draw upon and 
a kindly Parliament to pay his debts, the Duke of 
Marlborough with something like a million a year, 
and a Rothschild, who could write his check for ten 
millions without turning a hair. I began to think 
of home and the dear old flag, and all that. 



POKER IN LONDON AND PARIS. 



63 



*'It Started the perspiration, but I was in and 
couldn't get out, so I made up my mind to stay 
long enough to lose about a hundred dollars, and 
then suddenly grow ill and extract myself. It 
wouldn't do to have stomach ache, which was a 
confoundedly plebeian ailment, and I deplored the 
fact that I was not subject to fits, but I thought I 
might ring in a pain of some kind, or perhaps fall 




" And the first thing his Royal Highness said was, "Give me one 
thousand pounds worth of chips.'' 

back on cold feet. Perhaps the Prince had been 
occasionally troubled in that way, and would sym- 
pathize with me. 

*'As we sat down, however, two things happened 
to disturb my dream of cold feet. Schenck was to 
bank and the first thing His Royal Highness said 
was : 



64 JACK POTS. 

'' 'Give me one thousand pounds worth of chips.' 
And he said it with no more emphasis than if it 
had been: 'Pass the pie.' 

"I began to reahze that I was hable to drop my 
Httle old two thousand the first hand, and perhaps 
before I had a chance to draw cards, and I in- 
wardly prayed for an earthquake. But earthquakes 
only visit London about once in a thousand years. 

"To add to my grief the Rothschild chap placed 
at his elbow a book of signed checks, with a blank 
space for him to write in the amount, which he did 
with a pencil, in a careless way as if he were keep- 
ing count of hams. The only glimmer of hope on 
the horizon was the conduct of the Duke of Marl- 
borough. He acted like a perfect gentleman and 
only bought two thousand dollars worth of checks. 

'T steered by him, and also bought two thou- 
sand dollars worth. Schenck gave me an approv- 
ing smile, and I learned afterward that I did the 
proper thing. It would not have been etiquette to 
buy as much as the Prince. I was mighty glad of 
that. I thought since that I would have been in 
a fine fix if etiquette had required me to stpck up 
with the Prince. 1 am afraid that I would have 
stuck our Minister for his year's salary, and he 
would never have spoken to me again. 

''The horrors of that eventful night I can never 
recall without a shudder. The ante was two 
pounds — ten dollars — but that was a mere detail. 



POKER IN LONDON AND PARIS. 65 

The Prince would look at his cards in a careless 
way, and remark T raise that a hundred pounds.' 

"The bloated villain Rothschild would flip the 
pasteboards in an indifferent manner, and observe, 
with the same indifference to my feelings, T'll see 
that and go fifty pounds better.' 

"These blood curdling remarks would take place 
before the draw, you understand. And then they 
would lean back, and puff at their fifty-cent cigars, 
call for what cards they wanted, and talk about 
bets of five to ten thousand dollars, or anything 
that happened to come into their wealthy heads. 

'*Oh, how I wished I was a copper king of Mon- 
tana, or a coal baron of Pennsylvania, or any other 
fellow rolling in wealth, so that I could have socked 
it to them ! I laid down hand after hand because 
I couldn't stand the strain. Td pick up two stout 
pair, get hoisted a couple of hundred before the 
draw, and then get knocked out with a bet of two 
thousand, and set back and see the Prince or 
Rothschild pull in the pot on a pair of nines. 

"That's the sort of company I was in, and I 
didn'lr^see my way out the least bit. Lots of times 
I felt morally certain that they were bluffing, but 
I couldn't risk five thousand dollars on my opinion, 
and I had to let it go. It wasn't poker at all ; it 
was more like highway robbery. It was just pos- 
sible that they might have a good hand and if I 
run up against one my friend Schenck would be 
ruined cashing my losses. 



66 JACK POTS. 

"At the end of an hour I was out twelve hundred 
dollars; simply anted it away, so to speak, and 
didn't have a bit of fun. Then, all of a sudden, I 
got hold of three aces. It happened to be a jack 
pot, very fat as you may believe, and I had them be- 
fore the draw. I said to myself that it was now or 
never, and I run my face for all sorts of raises. 
Talk about cold feet ! When I tell my children 
about that agonizing ten minutes, I never refer to 
my feelings, and let them understand that their dad 
was cool and collected. 

''But I wasn't. The Prince and the Duke and 
that Rothschild let me down rather easy — I sup- 
pose they took pity on me, as it was the first hand I 
had really played — at any rate there w^as a call, and 
I won ten thousand dollars on the hand. Then, oh, 
how I wished that I could get up and make my 
escape, but that would not have been etiquette, so 
I stayed on and kept on fooling away my chips as 
before. 

''The end of it was that the game broke up at 
midnight, and I was as happy as if I had w^on a 
prize in a lottery when I found that I was out only 
three hundred dollars. The experience was worth 
the money, and I have had lots of fun talking about 
it, but I w^ouldn't go through it again until I get 
to be about ten times a millionaire." 



CHAPTER V. 

POKER AND JURISPRUDENCE VARIOUS -DECISIONS BY 

LEGAL LUMINARIES — HOW THE JUDGE OVER- 
RULED THE MOTION THE SHERIFF 

TOOK THE POT. 

In the eyes of the law all gambling- is illegal and 
of course poker comes under the ban. Whenever 
the law gets mixed up with a poker game, the cards 
have to take a back seat. Yet the law, or the law- 
yers, who are the life of the law, are currently re- 
ported to know a great deal about poker from 
practical experience. It is supposed that they 
learn the game when they are young and do not 
realize how wicked it is. Then, when they advance 
in years, and have to take big fees from corpora- 
tions that can do no wrong, they forget all about 
the days of their youth. This probably accounts 
for some of the curious decisions we hear from 
the bench, when poker is in court. 

A New York man who kept a cigar store, was 
hauled up before a magistrate for keeping a gamb- 
ling den. A detective went into the room back of 
the store and found five longshoremen playing 
penny ante. 

'T have the kitty here as evidence," said the de- 
tective. 

67 



68 



JACK POTS. 



''What has a cat got to do with the game?" 
asked the magistrate. 

"I said a kitty," repUed the detective. 

*'Well, isn't a kitty a cat? Produce her." 

The detective explained what a kitty was, and 
the magistrate Hstened with a keen air, as if he 
was imbibing novel information. Then he de- 
manded to know who owned the kitty, and as the 




"Not always," chuckled the judge on the bench. 



cigar man said he didn't, and the longshoremen 
couldn't be found, the case was dismissed and the 
kitty was confiscated for the good of the poor. 

A judge on the district court bench of Minne- 
sota was more frank and also more learned. The 
business methods of a furniture dealer who made a 
sky rocket failure were being looked into, and in 



POKER AND JURISPRUDENCE. 69 

the course of the trial it was developed that he had 
been playing cards rather recklessly, and a story 
of how he went against a sure thing and lost $2,500 
at one sitting cropped out. 

It seems that the furniture man was introduced 
to a stranger at the Merchants' Hotel in St. Paul, 
and a game was soon raging. The three men were 
in it, and the introducer played the double cross on 
the furniture man. At a certain time he was to 
drop out and signal what the stranger had. 

The furniture man caught a bob tail flush, and 
his friend signalled that the stranger had only one 
small pair. Our friend then drew one card and 
proceeded to bluff. The stranger raised him, and 
in a short time $2,500 in bills were piled up. When 
the show down came our friend had nothing and 
the stranger scooped in the pot on a pair of jacks. 

"By the way," interrupted the creditor's counsel 
at this point, "which hand wins at poker?" 

"The best one, of course," was the disgusted an- 
swer. 

"Not always," chuckled the judge on the bench, 
and a prolonged laugh passed around the room. 

"You admit, then," continued the lawyer, se 
verely, "that, knowing as you did by your friend's 
pretty system of private telegraphy, that this 
stranger had only a small pair that you run up the 
stakes to $2,500?" 

"Yes, sir." 



70 JACK POTS. 

"Well, now wasn't that a very unusual proceed- 
ing?" 

''Oh, I don't know," broke in the judge, with 
the air of a man full of information on the subject 
under discussion, "I suppose the witness argued 
that having bet on the cards it was his best play to 
bluff the stranger out, because, you see, he drew 
only one card while the other man drew two, and 
had a pair of jacks all the time, don't you perceive? 
Under such circumstances a play of that kind 
would win nine times out of ten." 

Sojne of the old lawyers looked reproachfully at 
the judge for giving the thing away in that fashion, 
but the youngsters thought it the best joke of the 
session. 

Another learned jurist who could play poker was 
Judge Walker, of Kentucky, who was very strict 
/ on the bench but a jovial companion in private 
life. It had been the custom of the lawyers travel- 
ing the circuit to indulge in a friendly game of 
poker nearly every night after court adjourned, 
and Judge Walker occasionally took a hand in the 
game. 

One night in Bracken County the court and the- 
lawyers joined in a friendly game the evening they 
arrived, and the next morning before court oper d, 
the judge was seen in earnest conversation with the 
district attorney. 

When court opened the judge delivered the 
usual charge to the Grand Jury, and then added : 



POKER AND JURISPRUDENCE. 71 

*'I am informed that of late gambling- has been 
rampant in this county, despite vigorous efforts to 
suppress it, and it is your duty to bring to justice 
the occasional as well as the persistent offenders." 
Then he turned to the attorneys, and continued : 
"Gentlemen, you are officers of the court, and as 
such are sworn to uphold the laws and constitution 
of the State. You have been playing poker, con- 
trary to the statutes in such cases made and pro- 
vided. Each of you will be fined $10 upon the 
return of indictments, which I now instruct the 
jury to bring in." 

Turning to the prosecuting- attorney, he said: 
"You are not only a lawyer, but the prosecuting 
attorney, sworn to bring offenders to justice. You 
will pay $25. Walker," laying his hand on his own 
breast, ''you are not only a lawyer but a judge, 
and your case is the w^orst of all. You will pav 

$50." 

He paid the fine, as did each of the lawyers, and 
it broke up the game on that circuit. 

Chicago has produced an official who would take 
issue with that Kentucky judge. He isn't a lawyer, 
but he was a police inspector, and that is the next 
thing to it. He instructed the police to close all 
places where stud poker, faro, keno and other 
gambling might be found, but not to touch the 
harmless game of draw. In explanation, the in- 
spector said that he regarded draw poker as on 



72 



JACK pots: 



a par with whist, euchre, soUtaire and tiddledy- 
winks. 

"I regard poker as an innocent game," he said, 
with a judicial air, ''and a harmless diversion. It 

is true that money can be 
bet on it, but the same 
is true of the other 
games I have mentioned. 
Poker should be played 
with beans or buttons, 
and I understand 
that it is quite a 
favorite with fam- 
ilies." 

W hen asked 
whether he sup- 
posed the club 
men used beans 
or buttons, he re- 
plied that he re- 
garded the inci- 
dent as closed. 

As it happens, how- 
ever, this police Solomon 
has backing in no less a personage than Chief Jus- 
tice Beatty, of the Cahfornia Supreme Court, who 
has decided that in the eyes of the law poker is 
not a game that comes under the head of gambling. 
This decision was the result of an application 




Laying his hand on his own breast — 
you will pay $50. 



POKER AND JURISPRUDENCE. 73 

for a writ of habeas corpus made by Julius Meyer, 
who was held to answer on a charge of perjury. 
He was a juror in a case where the defendant was 
on trial for robbing the proprietors of a faro bank. 
Meyer was asked by the counsel for the defend- 
ant : 

s 

"Do you know a man named Carroll or Ross or 
Webster, the men who were proprietors of the 
gambling house at 620 Market street?" 

To which he replied: "No, sir, I have nothing 
to do with such places." 

After the trial it was discovered that Meyer was 
a constant visitor at certain poker establishments, 
and was occasionally employed to help the game 
along by taking a hand to revive interest. On this 
information the district attorney made out a com- 
plaint in which he charged Meyer with perjury. 
In the lower court the ex-juror was found guilty, 
but Chief Justice Beatty reversed this decision. 
In his opinion he said : 

'Toker playing for money, however objectiona- 
ble in fact, in the eyes of the law is as innocent as 
chess or any game played for recreation and its 
votaries and the places where it is played are not 
criminal. There is no inconsistency, therefore, be- 
tween the declaration of the petitioner that he had 
nothing to do with such places as a faro bank, and 
the fact he did frequent club-rooms where poker 
was played for money; And since there is neither 



74 JACK POTS. 

evidence nor accusation of any other false state- 
ment made by him it follows that he cannot be 
held for perjury and must be discharged from cus- 
tody." 

As may be imagined this decision created a sen- 
sation, but the justice stuck to it, and the poker 
players of 'Frisco felt like voting him a set of 
silver, but didn't dare to. 

\\^hen Judge Y — was on the northern New 
York circuit he was noted as a card player, in fact 
it was a passion with him, and hardly a night passed 
that he did not set down to a game of some 
kind. He was not particular, as he played all 
games equally well, and all in the same calm and 
judicial style. This fact made him especially strong 
at poker, but he never took advantage of it to 
win any special amount of money. It was the 
game he was after, and as a rule he would call even 
when he had a strong hand, when he thought the 
betting showed signs of exceeding reasonable lim- 
its. 

One night he sat in a game at the Lawyers' Club 
in Buffalo, where the stakes were never high, and 
the usual limit was a five-dollar bill. It had been 
a trying day in court, with a very complicated case. 
The lawyer for the defense was a little fellow named 
Perkins, a peppery chap, who made a specialty of 
badgering witnesses, and making objections to 
every bit of evidence that did not come his way. 



POKER AND JURISPRUDENCE. 75 

He had had a very unlucky day, as Judge Y — was 
very clear headed and not inclined to let a lawyer 
run over him as some judges do. Consequently he 
sat down on Perkins extremely hard on about 
twenty different occasions, and overruled all his 
objections with promptness and dispatch. A law- 
yer is supposed to take such matters as part of the 
game, but Perkins was a man who harbored re- 
sentment at being shown up. 

When the game was made up, the judge sat at 
the right of Perkins, and the little lawyer gave the 
big judge a glance that boded him no good. The 
game had not been in progress ten minutes before 
it w^as evident that Perkins was going to make the 
judge his meat if possible. You may have seen 
such a game. Perkins wouldn't stay in a hand 
unless the judge w-as also in, and he bucked at him 
without ceasing. Of course the other players 
noticed it and exchanged significant glances, but 
the judge appeared to be oblivious. 

Time and again Perkins would bet the limit 
before the draw when it was the judge's age, and 
when it was his age he was sure to raise the judge 
out if possible. This was rather a dangerous game 
against a cool player, and had the judge been 
vengeful he could have broken the peppery player 
on several occasions. But he laughed and talked, 
smoked cigars and took an occasional nip of old 
rye, and let Perkins get away with his transparent 



76 JACK POTS. 

bluffs with the best of good nature. And, as may 
be imagined, Perkins kept getting hotter and hot- 
ter all the time. 

At last it got down to a pot where everybody 
appeared to have a fair hand, at least everybody 
stayed. It was lifted several times before the draw. 
The judge took three cards, the other three men 
two apiece and Perkins drew one. 

It was Perkin's age. The man to his left 
chipped, the next man raised him one, the next 
man called, so did the judge, and Perkins raised it 
the limit. One man dropped out, the other called, 
and the judge raised Perkins the limit. 

''Hello," said that gentleman, with a thinly 
veiled sneer. "Motion overruled, hey?" 

''Looks that way," replied the judge, calmly. 

"Then I'll have to take an exception," retorted 
Perkins. "Raise you five." 

The other two players threw up their cards. 
They saw at once that a fight was on between Per- 
kins and the judge and they didn't want to be 
pinched. The judge raised back the limit, and 
thus it sawed back and forth for about ten times, 
Perkins all the while getting madder and madder, 
the judge cool as if hearing an action for simple 
trespass. 

By this time there was quite a small army of 
spectators around the table ; the exhibition of ran- 
cor was an unusual sight in that club. Some of 



POKER AND JURISPRUDENCE. 



77 



them interjected a few jocular remarks with the 
hope of giving the game a more gentle turn, but 
by this time Perkins was white to the lips, and 
one might have thought he was playing for his 
life. 

''Come, come," said the president of the club at 
length. "We don't want 
any one to lose a fortune 
here. In a friendly game, 
you know" 

"Make a final 
suggested one of 
the players. 

"I'm agreed," 
said the judge, 
promptly. "Or 
shall we show 
down as it is?" 

"Never!" cried 
Perkins, excited- 
ly. "L insist on 
another bet." He 
threw thirty dol- 
lars on the table. 
"You can't over- 
rule that!" 

The judge bit off the end of a fresh cigar with 
aggravating deliberation, lit it, laid his cards face 
down, and counted out thirty dollars. "Now, sir," 




Perkins sunk into a heap like a 
pile of old clothes. 



78 JACK POTS. 

he said, leaning" back in his chair in his well known 
attitude on the bench, ''produce your witnesses." 

Perkins, shaking like a leaf, but with a triumph- 
ant grin on his face, spread out his hand on the 
table and exhibited four deuces. 

''The court," said the judge, sternly, "decides 
that the witnesses are unworthy of credence." 

Then he laid out his cards and disclosed four 
treys. Perkins sunk into a heap like a pile of old 
clothes, and actually gasped as he saw the judge 
gather up the money and chips, and leave the table. 

"Damn," he said, faintly. "Overruled again !" 

Where the following described game took place 
deponent sayeth not,' and it is not essential, as the 
only important part of it is the ending. There 
were four players, but there was nothing out of 
the ordinary until it came to a jack pot, or rather, 
this particular jack pot, and only the judge and 
the colonel were in that. 

It had been made for $25 as a starter, and each 
of the four players had sweetened it four times with 
a five-dollar chip, before there came an opener. 

The colonel picked up his cards, glanced care- 
lessly at them, smiled blandly, and said, softly : 
ril bust that for fifty, so as to let you all in." 

Two of the players thanked him with great cor- 
diality, and stayed out pleasantly. The judge, who 
was the last to have a say, looked at his cards care- 
fully and an expression of supreme disgust settled 



POKER AND JURISPRUDENCE. 79 

on his face. He held the cards by the corner and 
made a slight motion as if to throw them in the 
discard. 

The colonel's hand twitched nervously. It 
looked as if it would be a case of showing openers 
and raking in the rich stakes and for reasons that 
will appear later the colonel was reluctant to show 
his hand at that stage. 

The judge made another motion as if he were 
inclined to throw up his hand and the colonel said : 
''What are you going to do, judge?" 

The judge went through his hand again, with 
the despairing look intensified. 

''Ain't afraid to play, are you?" inquired the 
colonel, tauntingly. 

"A little bit," replied the judge, "but I hate to 
see you run away with the pot in this fashion. I 
guess I'll see what you are doing this on, anyhow." 
Then he made good the opening bet. 

They drew cards. The colonel took two and the 
judge, after much painful deliberation, decided that 
one was about all he wanted. 

The colonel then promptly bet another fifty 
dollars, and the judge, after thinking it over, saw 
him and raised five dollars ; the colonel came back 
with another fifty-dollar raise. 

The judge laid his hand on the table, pulled out 
a roll of bills and counted off three liundred dol- 
lars. 



8o 



JACK POTS. 



"Vn tilt that about two hundred and fifty," he 
remarked, calmly. 

The colonel gasped. He looked at his hand and 
then at the very respectable pile of chips and cur- 
rency on the board. The judge's face still bore 
that pained expression. The colonel thought over 
the proposition for a minute and then went down 
into his clothes. By hard scrabbling he managed 
to get two hundred and fifty dollars together, and 
then he said, rather weakly: 'T'll call you." 




" Why, you robber," he said, " you had them all the time." 

The judge picked up his hand and spread it out 
on the table. He had four fives. 

The colonel gasped worse than ever as he 
showed up three queens. 

"Why, you robber," he said, "you had them all 
the time." 



POKER AND JURISPRUDENCE. ^i 

"Certainly," assented the judge, cheerfully. 

''But you made a couple of motions as if you 
were going to throw up your cards." 

''My boy,'^ said the judge, solemnly, as he 
stowed away the wad of bills, "I think it would be 
a good thing for you to go to some night school 
w^here there is a complete course in that noble 
game known as draw poker." 

But wiien we get down to what may be called 
the lower walks of jurisprudence, it is seen that 
law and poker mix with sometimes curious results. 
This is illustrated in the trials and adventures of 
two gentlemen of the East who went South and 
West to do the country. 

In a general way they were on the make, but 
in this case their specialty was in bunkoing con- 
fiding farmers out of farms and crops in various 
ways not necessary to describe here. In the course 
of time these two rascals came to Bugg Centre, in 
Arkansas. One of the gentlemen, on his return 
to civilization, related the happenings of that small 
burg in a spirited manner. 

"It didn't take us long to get acquainted, and 
the glad hand was put out everywhere, generally 
with a jug attached to it. Towards evening of 
this welcoming day somebody suggested a little 
game of draw just to pass away the time, and a 
tall, lanky man said that as it was pretty warm we 
might as well go to his house and play on the 



82 JACK POTS. 

'piazzer' while his daughter played the 'pianner' 
inside. 

''I wasn't stuck on the piano business, as music 
always did disconcert me when playing cards, but 
I couldn't very well make any objection. So we 
went there, and in about half an hour the music 
didn't bother me in the least. I don't know who 
taught those fellows to play cards, but it was the 
softest proposition I ever encountered. 

"Tobe — that was my partner — and I just looked 
at each other. We didn't have to do any crooked 
work ; the other four fellows just threw their money 
away, making the biggest fool bets I ever saw. I 
never found any money in my life, but this was the 
nearest to it. 

''By ten o'clock we had all the money in sight, 
and Tobe said wx'd better be starting out, as it 
was a long walk home, and the moon would be low 
down before we could reach the hotel. Our lanky 
host asked us to stay all night, but we refused. 
The fact is, we were so well satisfied with the rake- 
ofif that we meant to skip early the next morning. 

''We started through the woods just loaded 
down with cash, and pretty near four hundred dol- 
lars winner, and we did some pretty joyous talking, 
when all of a sudden we heard dogs baying behind 
us. We both knew they were hounds, and Tobe 
said somebody was coon hunting, although it was 
rather late in the year for that sport. 



POKER AND JURISPRUDENCE. ^3 

'Then he began to tell me about a coon hunt 
he was once in, and he was getting to the interest- 
ing part when he broke off and cried : Tard, get 
a tree ! Those dogs are after us.' 

"I never was good at tree climbing, but I got 
up one in a hurry and Tobe took another. In 
about two minutes the meanest lot of big mouthed, 
mangy hounds you ever saw were howling and 
prancing around under us. We both prayed that 
someone would come, and sure enough someone 
did. It was the tall, lank man. 

He came up and quieted the dogs, and then 
leaned on a long double-barreled gun, while he 
delivered a short address. 

''He said that he was mighty pained to do what 
he had to do, but it was his duty. The fact was 
that Bugg Centre had been victimized several times 
in the last year by strangers who came into the 
community and cleaned it out in various ways. He 
was sorry to have to assert that we had returned 
the hospitality extended to us in a cruel way. 

"We had gone into a friendly game with the 
Mayor, the Marshal, the County Treasurer and 
the Sheriff, which latter was himself. In a moment 
of confidence the Treasurer had staked the other 
gentlemen with all the available county funds, and 
we had skillfully — he would not say dishonestly — 
won them all. After our departure the little band 
of officials talked over the matter and came to the 



84 JACK POTS. 

conclusion that it was the duty of the Sheriff to 
make amends for this error, and here he was. 

"He informed us that he construed his duty to be 
to make us shell out all our winnings, and, as his 
fee, any other small change that we might have 
about us. He added that the dogs were not hun- 
gry, but would get so after awhile, and when we 
came down they might appease their appetite on 
us. Furthermore, there were some citizens of 
Bugg Centre back in the woods, who could pick a 
coon out of the highest tree in the darkest night in 
the year. 

''Did we come down? What else could we do? 
We did. We threw the money we had down on the 
ground, the Sheriff gathered it up, whistled to his 
dogs and went off. Tobe and I slid down, shook 
hands with each other mournfully, and in twenty- 
four hours we were out of Arkansas. I'll never go 
there any more, either on business or pleasure. 
Honor? They don't know the meaning of the 
word." 



CHAPTER VL 

ALL ABOUT JACK POTS A $1,200,000 JACK DIDN't 

KNOW GREENBACKS WON ON TWO DEUCES 

A BOSTON man's NARROW ESCAPE. 

'Jack pots," said a veteran campaigner, "is the 
devil." 

The grammar is bad, the sentiment will be rec- 
ognized as irreproachable. The inventor of jack 
pots is unknown, but his name has been alternately 
praised and cursed by players for ages. Southern- 
ers have declared that more than a million niggers 
have been lost on bob tailed flushes, but that isn't 
a circumstance to the money lost on jack pots. 
Of course somebody won the money, but the win- 
ner is not entitled to any consideration in a poker 
game ; he can take care of himself. 

A jack pot is a delusion and a snare. When a 
fellow is behind the game a jack pot offers a tempt- 
ing chance to play even on one hand. Of five 
players it has been calculated that an average of 
three will stay in a jack pot, and it usually has 
been sweetened three or four times before the 
opening. That makes a pot worth playing for. 

Now suppose you pick up a pair of jacks. Some 
players will pass on jacks and not come in unless 
another player opens the pot. Most players come 

85 



86 JACK POTS. 

in on jacks. Now comes the question how to play 
it. If you are the last to say, you may be pretty 
certain that you have the best hand to go, but if 
you open it lightly all hands will stay, and some 
one with a measley pair of fours will draw out on 
you. Therefore it is good play to open the pot for 
the limit, and thus scare away the little fellows if 
you can. But if they stay and you do not better 
your hand, you may be certain that you are beaten, 
and your only chance to win is to make a big bluff. 
If you help your hand, even with a small pair, you 
have a right to think that you have a winner. 

On the other hand, if you start out with threes 
or better, it is good play to open the pot for a small 
sum, so as to let in the other players. Then there 
is a chance that some one with a pair of queens 
or better will draw another and beat you, but it 
won't do to think of that, or you can't play cards. 

The most aggravating hand to have on opening 
is two pairs. It is much easier to draw one more 
to a pair than it is to make a full hand out of two 
pairs, yet they have such a ponderous' look that 
you can't help playing them after the draw. The 
safest policy is to call the first chance if you are 
raised. 

The real agony, however, comes to the man with 
a small pair who sees the opener, catches his card 
and then has it beaten by the opener, who also 
catches his card. Of course, arguing from the 



ALL ABOUT JACK POTS. 87 

ethical side, he ought to be beaten; the opener 
having the best hand at the start ought to win 
out; but that reasoning will not pacify the loser. 

One of the problems of the jack pot is in rela- 
tion to splitting openers. Suppose you open on 
jacks and all the others come in cheerfully, and 
you realize that you are up against threes and at 
the same time discover that you have a four flush. 
Then it is your play to split your jacks and draw to 
tlie flush. But at the end of the hand you must 
show your pair, so you place one jack on the table 
in front of you under a stack of chips and let it 
lay there until it is time to show up. That is fair 
enough and plain enough, but it in a measure gives 
away your hand. 

The New York Sun comes to the rescue in its 
own original way. The question is frequently re- 
ferred to its card expert, and he always decides it 
in the same way. This is the way he talks : 

''A player may open a jack pot on a pair and 
split the pair to draw to a straight or flush without 
in any manner calling the attention of any other 
player to the play. The discards must be placed in 
a pile in front of the next dealer, and the players 
must discard in order, beginning with the age. 
Then the discard pile gives indisputable evidence 
of what each player discards." 

How deliciously simple that is! The players 
must discard in order ! This is a theory, not a con- 



88 JACK POTS. 

dition. The Sun man apparently thinks that poker 
players are like soldiers at roll call each one an- 
swering to his name as called and no one daring 
to speak out of turn. As a matter of poker fact, 
no one ever saw a game where the players dis- 
carded in regular order. Some men are always 
slow in making up their minds, and the last man is 
just as liable to pitch away his discard first, so that 
the discard is never a reliable guide as to the 
order in which the cards were dropped. Then 
again, while two or three men are betting one of 
the others is almost certain to pick up the remain- 
ing cards and shuffle them or to mix them up in 
the fashion some players have of "seeing what they 
would have got." 

In ideal poker every move is made according to 
Hoyle — or the Sun — but poker isn't ideal. Men 
will not discard in regular order and there is no 
''must" about it. There is no umpire to direct 
the play or call down the player who discards out 
of his turn. The Sun man has frequently an- 
nounced that he is his own authority and it looks 
as if he were his own poker player; he plays cards 
wdth himself, where everything moves according 
to his rules. Nobody else plays that way. In 
splitting openers, anchor down the splitter in front 
of you, and then there can be no dispute. 

Another point while we are about it, which ap- 
plies to all kinds of hands. It is a rule in poker 



ALL ABOUT JACK POTS. 89 

playing that if the card is faced before the draw, the 
player must take it; if it faced while drawing, the 
player can't take it. But, what then? Does he 
get the next card, or must he wait until the others 
are served? There are two opinions. One says 
that he ought to get the next card because it 
wasn't his fault that the card was faced. The other 
says that if an extra card is served that deprives all 
the players that follow of the cards they ought 
to have had, and that so long as he has to take a 
card to which he was not originally entitled, what 
difference does it make if he has to wait until all 
the others are served? This side seems to have 
rather the best of the argument, and it is the view 
taken by most poker coteries. 

Speaking of innovations on jack pots — pro- 
gressing up to aces and then down again — another 
one comes to light, but it is not dangerous. It 
appears to have been evolved from the active brain 
of a St. Louis sport. He says : 

"Of late years the old-fashioned ante-bellum 
game of poker has been superseded by the plan of 
playing all jack pots. This, of course, made 
swifter play, while at the same time it enabled 
everybody to gauge to some extent the strength 
of the hand held by the man who opened the pot. 
But the latest evolution of poker is now at hand, 
and it consists of allowing pots to be opened on 
any pair. 



90 JACK POTS. 

'That is to say, if A has only a pair of deuces 
and is wiUing to take chances he can begin the 
betting. Of course, if he is very close to the 
dealer he will pass on such a small pair, and will 
hold his hand to await the action of B, C, D, et al. 

''The advantages of this plan may not seem 
obvious, but I have yet to see the poker player who 
does not consider it a big improvement on the cast 
iron system of adhesion to jacks. In the first place, 
it gives more rapidity and excitement, and that is 
what the player yearns for. In the next place, it 
gives the loser a far better chance to get even. 
Everybody will be coming-in on short pairs — tens 
and under — and the chances of making strong 
hands are increased because of the increased fre- 
quency of the draw. 

"This open-on-any-pair game is, I think, quite 
likely to gain the favor of the pasteboard loving 
public, and crystallize into permanent form. The 
conservative element will kick against it, but will 
finally give way, just as it had to concede the all- 
jack system, which was for a long time fought bit- 
terly by the ancient regime." 

Now doesn't that sound funny. To open a pot 
on any pair is precisely what is done now in 
straight poker, and the only thing he bars out is 
the opening of the pot on nothing, and how often 
does that occur in a game? Of course there would 
be more pots played, but, what size would they be? 



4 



ALL ABOUT JACK POTS. 9' 

It would be a miracle if everyone would pass out if 
I wo deuces were openers. There would be a play 
on every deal. The whole scheme is rubbish. 

General Miles once told a good story about the 
biggest jack pot on record. He prefaced it by two 
astonishing statements — the first that he did not 
play poker himself, and the second that the game 
has rather gone out of the army. No one would 
think of contradicting the gallant general in com- 
mand of our armies, but, at the same time — well, 
here is the story : 

'T think I can claim to have been a witness of 
the biggest game as to stakes that was ever 
played." 

"Tell us about it, General," said Colonel Ochil- 
tree. 'T have some pretty good poker stories in 
stock myself." 

"And so have I," said Henry Watterson. "For 
instance, Joe Blackburn's about the game played 
in the trenches at the battle of Shiloh, with a table 
made on the bodies of the comrades of the play- 
ers." 

"Well," chimed in John W. Mackay, "as to 
stakes, I will enter a claim for some of the gamcrD 
played in the good old days of Nevada, when the 
boys had the Comstock lode to draw upon. But, 
General, let us have your story." 

"It was in the spring of 1865," began the Gen- 
eral, "when Davis, Lee and the rest of vou Confed- 



92 



JACK POTS. 



erates, Watterson, were in full retreat from Rich- 
mond toward Danville, and we were pressing you 
night and day, hardly stopping to eat or sleep. 
On the eve of the battle of Sailor's Creek" 

''I was there," chipped in Ochiltree. "It was in 
that battle I was wounded." 

"That day," continued General Miles, "we over- 




The biggest poker game that was ever played. 

hauled and captured a Confederate wagon train 
and found, greatly to the delight of our boys, that 
several of the wagons were loaded wdth Confeder- 
ate bonds and Confederate money in transit from 
Richmond to whatever place the government now 
on wheels might make a stand. The soldiers 



ALL ABOUT JACK POTS. 93 

simply helped themselves to the stuff by the hand- 
fuls, and the officers, who had a pretty good idea 
as to the value of the spoils, or rather, their lack 
of value, did not care to deprive them of their 
fun. 

"At night, when we had knocked off work for 
supper and a few hours rest and sleep, I had occa- 
sion to ride along the line, and I found a poker 
game going on at every camp fire. Stopping to 
watch one of the games, this is what I heard : 

" 'How much is the ante ?' 

" *A thousand dollars.' 

" 'And how much has it been raised? Five 
thousand? Well, here goes! I raise it ten thou- 
sand.' 

" 'Good ! I see you and go you ten thousand 
dollars better. Twenty-five thousand to draw 
cards.' 

"Then cards were drawn, and presently a bet 
was made of fifty thousand dollars. Some one 
went one hundred thousand better, but he was 
ruled down. Fifty thousand was the limit. How- 
ever, there was five hundred thousand dollars in 
the pot when it was hauled in by the winner, who 
had three treys and a pair of kings. I expressed 
my surprise at the size of the game and told the 
boys that they had better go slow or their funds 
would run out. 

" 'Never fear, General,' replied one of them. 



94 



JACK POTS. 



'we'll keep within our means. You ought to 
have been here ten minutes ago. We had a jack- 
pot of one million, two hundred thousand dollars !' 

"I think you will agree with me," concluded 
General Miles, "that no bigger poker game than 
that was ever played." 

A sergeant in the Seventh Cavalry, then sta- 
tioned in Dakota, told me a story that is a mate 

to this. It was at 







He made them shell out all the notes 
they had stuffed in their clothes. 



the very begin- 
ning of the war 
and his regi- 
ment was in Vir- 
ginia. He had a 
squad out on a 
scouting expedi- 
tion, and they saw 
ahead of them a 
small party 
o f Confederates 
with a wagon. 
They gave chase 
and the Confed- 
erates got away 
and left the 



wagon, 



The sergeant and his men examined the wagon 
and found that it was a U. S. wagon, probably cut 
out from a train by a daring party of Confederates. 



ALL ABOUT JACK POTS. 95 

It contained twenty boxes, which they pried open. 
The boxes were full of greenbacks, all brand new. 

Not a man in the party had ever seen a green- 
back and had no idea that they were good money, 
so they grabbed them out by fistfuls, and set down 
to play poker with them. In this occupation they 
were discovered by another squad of Union troops, 
this time headed by a captain, who knew something 
about finance. He made them shell out all the 
notes they, had stuffed in their clothes, and the 
wagon was taken back to camp and a frantic pay- 
master. 

My friend used to tell this story with tears in his 
eyes. If they had only known the value of their 
capture they might have taken a couple hundred 
thousand apiece, hid it in their clothes, threw 
away some empty boxes, and brought the rest vir- 
tuously back to camp, and been rich for the rest of 
their days. It is rather a curious story, and I 
don't vouch for it. 

It seems that poker is played in rather peculiar 
fashion in the upper circles of New York, if the 
following little tale is true. It was a choice coterie 
on the top floor of a fashionable Gotham club 
house. 

The jack pot had been around several times, 
and there was an accumulation of dollars in the 
centre of the table. 

The dealer picked up the cards and threw them 



96 



JACK POTS. 



out one by one, after the manner of poker games, 
and the gentleman on his left discovered that the 
first three were deuces. He immediately opened 
the pot for fifty cents, which was the terrible limit, 
and was rather startled when it came to him again 
to note that it cost him two dollars more to get in. 
He paid the price, but such was his agitation that 
he forgot he had three of a kind, discarded and 
drew three. 

Before picking up his cards he realized that he 
had made a bull. Believing that he had lost all 
chance of winning the pot, he was about to throw 

down his hand when a 
gentleman who sat be- 
hind him, and was 
well 




the 
game. 



not 
na- 
re- 



versed in 
tional 

marked, blandly : 
"See here, old 
man, you have 
four cards just 
alike. Is t h a t 
right?" 

"Shut up!" 



The dealer leaped to his feet and shouted: 
thought you had four of a kind; 
where are they?" 



growled the club 
man. Then, with 
seeming indifference, he added: "Fifty up. 

Everybody laughed and stayed out — naturally. 
Nobody cared to dispute the pot with him, and he 
raked it in. 



ALL ABOUT JACK POTS. 97 

The occasion being rather phenomenal, he threw 
down his cards face up, and he still had two deuces. 

The dealer leaped to his feet and shouted: "I 
thought you had four of a kind. Where are they ?" 

"Four spades and a deuce of hearts," replied the 
winner. 

There was another laugh all around and the 
game went on, and it was not until the next time 
they met that somebody thought to ask how he 
opened the pot. 

He was fortunate that he was not playing in a 
cowboy game. In fashionable circles the man 
who opens a jack pot when he hasn't openers loses 
the pot ; in other circles he loses his life along with 
the pot. There are certain men who will not ac- 
cept such excuses as "Forgot," "Thought that jack 
was a king," or something like that. They see 
nothing in it but a deliberate attempt to steal a 
pot, and guns are pulled instanter. 

In the early 'eighties, when Texas was really 
tough, and a man's life was not worth much more 
than a mule's, a young Bostonian, just from col- 
lege, landed in the Lone Star State. He had three 
thousand dollars, a good education and all the 
astounding conceit that goes with a college educa- 
tion. He was way up in the classics, had a smatter- 
ing of the modern languages, thought he knew 
"life" in all its phases — having imbibed the idea 
from three months' experience in the streets of 



98 JACK POTS. 

Boston and New York — and had more than a no- 
tion that he could go West and carve out his for- 
tune as easily as drinking a beer. 

The first place he struck was Dallas, and he 
dropped a few hundreds there just for a starter. 
The further he moved west the easier he became, 
and when he got to the limits, he had only about 
five hundred of his original three thousand. He 
was a gay boy, and rapidly fell into Texan ways, 
but somehow he couldn't catch on. An occasional 
spurt at cow punching kept his head above water 
for a time, but he realized that the day was rapidly 
approaching when he would have to return to 
Boston with the sad confession that he had 
dropped his pile, and would be obliged to run up 
against the stern realities of life in the guise of 
a teacher of a country school. 

It was gall and wormwood to him and he used 
every effort to stave ofT the evil day. Among the 
efforts was bucking the tiger, but the beast was 
unkind. He see-sawed back and forth, but he 
could never make a real killing, and it was while 
in this precarious state of affairs that he sat in a 
game of poker. 

The fates looked rather propitious. The four 
other men in the game were cattlemen with big 
wads and a generous style of betting. They were 
also square as a die. Horace — we will call him 
Horace, as befits a Boston man — knew that he 



ALL ABOUT JACK POTS. 99 

was the best player in the bunch, and if the cards 
went his way he had more than a chance of fatten- 
ing his wad. 

And the cards did run his way. It was a rare 
thing that he did not start out with a pair and he 
helped his hand about four times out of five. Three 
times he held a full house, and he got so that he 
was almost afraid to play flushes he held so many. 
He really did not dare to play to the full strength 
of his hands, for fear of exciting suspicion, al- 
though he was playing without a thought of trick- 
ery. Once or twice he apologized for his luck, but 
the other men laughed good naturedly. 

*'Play your luck, my boy," said one of them. 'T 
^understand that you haven't had your share since 
J striking this country." 

This was true enough, and so he played a little 
harder, until at the end of three hours he was nearly 
four thousand dollars ahead of the game. 

Then there came a jack pot. There had been 
jack pots before, but nothing out of the way. It 
was the Boston man's deal, and when he picked up 
his cards he saw that he had a pair of kings, a jack, 
a four and a five. There was twenty-five dollars in 
the pot to start ofif. Everybody passed and it was 
up to Horace. He opened it for twenty-five. Two 
men stayed, the other two dropped out. 

The first man to draw took one card, the next 
man drew three and Horace took three. He laid 



lOO JACK POTS. 

his pair of kings face down in front of him, tossed 
the discard into the deck, and bet fifty dollars with- 
out looking at his draw. The man that drew one 
card raised it a hundred, the next man dropped 
out, and Horace stopped to think. 

A one card evidently meant a four flush or a 
four straight. If he had caught either Horace was^ 
beaten, even if he caught the third king; if it was 
a blui¥ two kings w^ere good as wheat. He looked 
at his draw\ A ten spot, a six and a deuce. So he 
still had his pair of kings. He tossed in another 
hundred. The cattleman came back at him with two 
hundred and fifty. Then Horace picked up the 
cards lying in front of him, more with a desire to 
have time to think than any other motive. 

Then he felt a cold chill stealing up his spine 
until his hair crept on his head, and a sickness came 
all over him. He had kept the jack and thrown 
away one of the kings ! He sat there a full minute 
and did some very rapid thinking. If it had been 
an ordinary deal he would have thrown his hand 
into the deck without comment, but it was a jack 
pot, and he had opened it, so that he must show 
his hand. 

He said afterward that what he should have 
done was to have thrown down his hand, explain 
how he had made a mistake, and forfeit the po[. 
He thinks they would have accepted the explana- 
tion in good faith, although he admits that they 



ALL ABOUT JACK POTS. loi 

might not. But all he realized then was that he 
was in a terrible predicament. To open a jack pot 
without openers was generally regarded as an at- 
tempt to steal the pot, and treated as detected 
theft usually is in Texas. Here he had been win- 
ning right along, and holding phenomenal hands, 
and he couldn't help but feel that under the same 
circumstances he would have had suspicions. He 
saw himself in imagination shot full of holes, or 
maybe with a dirk thrust into his vitals, and the 
folks at home never knowing what had become of 
him. 

While all these gloomy thoughts were running 
through his head, he mechanically raised another 
hundred, which was the worst thing he could have 
done, because while he had an excuse before lifting 
his cards now he had none. He realized that also 
when it was too late, and another cold chill w^ent 
capering along his spinal column. 

The cattleman fingered his cards, and Horace 
saw that it was either a call or a lay down, and then 
would come the show down of openers, and 
then 

Just then there broke out a terrific commotion 
in the rear of the saloon, which w'as also an eating 
house. The cook had upset a pan of gravy over his 
legs, and in his jumping around had upset the 
stove, and the kitchen was on fire. As the whole 
structure was of wood and the fire department any- 



X03 



JACK POTS. 



thing but prompt or reliable, there was a strong 
probability of what the reporters call a holocaust. 
The cook and his assistant, two men who were 
eating, the barkeeper and the boss tore around with 
buckets, people 



rushed in from 
the street, and of 
course the game 



broke up 
and there. 




Just then there broke out a terrific commotion in the rear of the saloon. 

of the cattlemen swept cards, chips and money into 
his hat and all five players lit out. Horace said that 
when he dropped his cards on the floor he felt as if 
he was getting rid of a thousand pound weight. 



ALL ABOUT JACK POTS. 103 

When the excitement had subsided, and the fire 
was extinguished with small loss, all hands went 
back to the saloon to take a drink. Then the cat- 
tleman took off his hat and emptied the contents 
on the bar. 

''What's to become of this?" he asked. 
"Fm willing to divide it," said the Boston man, 
promptly. 

'Tf you had the best hand it's yours," returned 
the cattleman. ''What did you have?" 

"I had only a pair of kings," replied Horace, 
looking him squarely in the eyes. That was no lie, 
because he did have a pair of kings, although he 
was fool enough to throw one away. ^ 

"I had a four flush to go," said the other man, 
"and I didn't fill, but I made a pair of queens. The 
pot's yours." 

Horace felt another great weight lifted off his 
mind when he realized that he really had had the 
winning hand, and yet he felt ashamed to be the 
recipient of such generous dealing. But the four 
cattlemen were game, and he had to take the pile. 
He made a mental resolve to set in with them 
again, and lose it all back to them, but they left the 
next morning and so he had to go back to Boston 
with five thousand dollars to the good. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE SCHEME FOR A NATIONAL JACK POT A JACK POT 

WITHOUT CARDS. 

The jack pot is so infernally fascinating that it 
has a tendency to turn the brain of its votaries. It 
is only on this hypothesis that we can explain the 
wild schemes which originate on this basis. One 
would think that enough money has been lost on 
the pot without devising any plan to swell it to 
mammoth proportions. Such is the scheme of the 
National Jack Pot, which is credited to a New 
York enthusiast. 

The basic idea is to have a prearranged series of 
poker games played throughout the country by 
parties of local card shufflers. Take Chicago, for 
instance. On a certain evening six of the best 
poker players in town will set down to a game. 
Each man has $2 in the pot, and it takes $5 to come 
in. 

There being $12 in the pot to start with, it fol- 
lows that if only four men come in there would be 
$32 to win at the very lowest. But, of course, 
there would be a bet or two, so that the pot might 
be twice that sum ; but, as they say in faro, let her 
go as she lays. 

Now, under the terms of the compact, all over 

104 



SCHEME FOR A NATIONAL JACK POT. 105 

the Union, from the sterile shore of Maine to the 
sunny slope of California, poker players will be 
stacking up on this same proposition. Now comes 
the beginning of the novel part of the performance. 
The winner of each pot does not pocket his earn- 
ings. The $32 in every case is reserved for a grand 
fund to be made up by the — let us say — hundred 
games played on this system. That would make 
$3,200 in all. 

The winning hundred would next meet in con- 
vention and arrange for a new set of winners. 
Twenty games of five players each would be or- 
ganized. Each man must put up $2 as before, 
with $5 to open. The Hmit, it should be noticed, is 
$5 all through this series of games. 

Here we would have twenty jack pots, with $10 
in each. Let us suppose that three men will stay 
in each pot when it is opened; that would give 
twenty $25 pots, which makes $500 more to add 
to the original sum of $3,200. 

The twenty men who come out of this second 
ordeal as winners now form another series of five 
games with four players each. Of course there 
would be an adjournment between each series to 
settle any little differences of opinion, and deter- 
mine the choice of a referee, whose decision in all 
cases would be final. When the twenty survivors 
come together for their five games under the same 
terms that have previously prevailed, it follows that 



io6 JACK POTS. 

$2 for each man and $5 to open would mean 
$28 at least for the pot at each table. Five times 
$28 gives $140 to swell the sum already in hand. 

Now comes the final bout. The five veterans 
who thus come out of the various ordeals sit down 
together to a thrilling final game. The pot would 
be $3,200 plus $500 plus $140, or $3,840. It 
would still be a jack with $2 apiece to come in, or 
$3,850 in all. The limit is still $5. The winner of 
this final pot takes all the money. 

Now, what do you think of that, outside of a 
lunatic asylum? The man out of whose brilliant 
brain emanated this piece of nonsense, pretends 
that everybody he met enthusiastically endorsed it. 
Alas, alas ! There is one thing he forgot in the 
scheme. He hasn't allowed for any betting after 
the draw. It appears to be a show down affair all 
the way through. Wouldn't that make a real ex- 
citing game? 

The impression that the man doesn't know what 
he is talking about is deepened by his reference 
to Bret Harte. "Without poker," he observes, 
sapiently, ''we would have had no Bret Harte. It 
was poker that inspired those immortal lines, be- 
ginning : 

'Which they had a small game 
And Ah Sin took a hand.' " 
Oh, no; my son. It wasn't poker at all. It was 
euchre, as you will see if you consult the poem and 
do not depend on your memory. 



SCHEiME FOR A NATIONAL JACK POT. 107 

However, the idea is original if it is foolish, and 
we will give him credit for that. 

As a genuine novelty a jack pot without cards 
is entitled to pre-eminence. It was played in the 
glorious climate of California, and a man on the 
Argonaut was one of the party. 

There were six all together, five men coming 
into the mountains to have a fishing spree, and the 
sixth man was Long Tom, the guide. 

"Jest you all go over into the cabin there and 
make yourselves comfortable, while I tend to get- 
tin' this stufT unpacked," said Long Tom. 'There 
ain't no one thare; my pardner he's down below." 

The cabin had two rooms and the one they en- 
tered was the kitchen. There was not much fur- 
niture — a table of hewn logs, a chair of bent sap- 
lings and a rough bench. However, they did not 
notice such furniture as there was, for each mem- 
ber of the party, as he stepped over the threshold 
had his attention instantly attracted by the stove, 
and a chorus of ejaculations went up from the 
group. 

"Well, that staggers me," said the stock broker. 
"H'm," said the professor in a mysterious tone, 
while he rubbed his chin. 

The stove was a plain, small affair, rather old and 
rusty, and the only strange thing about it was its 
position. Its abbreviated legs stood upon large 
cedar posts, which were planted in the floor and 



-io8 JACK POTS. 

were four feet in height. This brought the stove 
away up in mid air, so that the top was about on a 
level with the colonel's neck, and he was a six- 
footer. 

The five men formed a circle around the stove 
and stared at it as solemnly as if it were a coffin. 
They felt the posts, and found them firm and solid, 
showing that the arrangement was a permanent 
one. Then they all took a look at the hole in the 
roof through which the stove pipe vanished. 

Suddenly the stock broker burst into a loud 
laugh. 

'*Oh, I understand it now," he said. 

''Understand what?" demanded the colonel, 
sharply. 

''Why Long Tom has his stove hoisted up so 
high from the floor." 

"So do I," said the doctor, "but I suspect that 
my explanation is not the same as any one else 
would ofifer." 

"Well, I will bet that I am right," returned the 
stock broker, "and put up the money." 

"I am in this," said the judge. "I have a clear 
idea about that stove, and I will back it up." 

"Make it a jack pot," suggested the colonel. "I 
want to take a hand." 

The stock broker drew a five dollar gold piece, 
from his pocket and dropped it on the center of the 
table. 



SCHEME FOR A NATIONAL JACK POT. 109 

"He has the stove up there," he said, "to get a 
better draught. In this rarified mountain air there 
is only a small amount of oxygen to the cubic inch, 
and combustion is more difficult to secure than in 
the lower latitudes. I have heard that if you get 
high enough up you can't cook an egg — that is, I 
mean, water won't boil — or something like that," 
he continued, thrown into sudden confusion by the 
discovery that the professor's eye was fixed upon 
him with a sarcastic gaze. 

"Is that supposed to be science?" asked the pro- 
fessor, mildly. 

"Well," said the stock broker, doggedly, "never 
mind the reasons. Experience is probably good 
enough for Tom. He finds that he gets a better 
draught for his stove by having it in mid-air, so he 
has it there." 

"The right explanation," began the professor, 
"is the simplest. My idea is that" 

"Excuse me," interrupted the stock broker, tap- 
ping the table, "are you in this pot?" 

The professor made a deposit, and proceeded : 

"Have you noticed that our guide is a very tall 
man? Like most men of his height he hates to 
bend over. If the stove was near the floor he 
would have to stoop down low when he whirled 
a flap jack or speared a rasher of bacon. Now he 
can stand up and do it with ease. Your draught 
theory is no good ; the longer the pipe, if straight, 
the better the fire will burn." 



no JACK POTS. 

'Trofessor/' remarked the colonel, with a cruel 
smile, ''I reg-ret to have to tell you that your money 
is gone. Long Tom told me on the way up, that 
his partner did all the cooking, and he is a man of 
rather short stature." The colonel then paid his 
compliments to the jack pot, and continued. ''Now, 
my idea is that the stove heats the room there bet- 
ter than on the floor. It is only a cooking stove, to 
be sure, but when the winter is cold it makes the 
room comfortable. Being up in the middle of the 
space it heats all equally well, which it would not 
do if it were down below." 

The doctor greeted this theory with a laugh. 

"Colonel," he said, "you are wild — away off the 
mark. Hot air rises, as any school boy ought to 
know, and the best way to disseminate it is to have 
the stove as low as possible. According to your 
theory it would be a good plan to put the furnace in 
the attic of a house instead of the basement." 

'T think," remarked the colonel, "that I could 
appreciate your argument better if you would 
ante." 

"Cheerfully, because the pot is mine," said the 
doctor, as he deposited the coin. "You will adopt 
my idea the minute you hear it, and Long Tom, 
who will be here in a minute^ will bear me out. 
This room is very small ; it has but little floor space 
and none of it goes to waste. Now if he had put 
the stove down where we expected to find it Long 



SCHEME FOR A NATIONAL JACK POT. m 

Tom could not have made use of the area under- 
neath, as you see he has done. On all sides of the 
supporting posts you will notice there are hooks 
on which he hangs his pans and skillets. Under- 




' I see you air all admirin' my stove, Captain." 

neath there is a practical kitchen closet for pots and 
cooking utensils of various kinds. \Miat could be 
more convenient ? I am surprised that none of you 
have seen what is so apparent.*' 



112 JACK POTS. 

The judge, who, had been listening to the opin- 
ions offered by the others, with the same grim 
smile that occasionally ornamented his face when 
he announced that an objection was overruled, now 
stepped forward and dropped a coin on the table. 
He then rendered his decision as follows : 

''It appears that none of you have noticed the 
forest of hooks in the roof just over the stove' 
They are not in use at present, but they are there 
for some purpose. I imagine that during the win- 
ter pieces of venison and bear's meat dangle over 
the stove and are thus dried for later consumption. 
Now, if the stove was on the floor it would be too 
faraway from the roof to be used for that purpose." 

''Here comes Long Tom," shouted the colonel, 
who had stepped to the open door while the judge 
was speaking. 

The old trapper put down the various articles of 
baggage with which his arms were loaded, and 
came into the kitchen cabin where his guests stood. 
He glanced at the group and then at the stilted 
stove. 

"I see you air all admirin' my stove," said he, 
"an' I'll bet you've been wonderin' why it's up so 
high." 

"Yes, we have," admitted the professor. "How 
did you know it?" 

"People most alius jest as soon as they come into 
the place begin to ask me about it. That's how I 
knowed." 



i 

SCHEME FOR A NATIONAL JACK POT. 113 

*'\Vell, why is it up so high?" asked the stock 
broker, impatiently, with a side glance at the well 
developed jack pot on the table. 

As the novelists say, the interest was intense as 
Long Tom grinned until he showed his palate, and 
prepared to elucidate the mystery. 

"The reason," said he, ''is simple enough. You 
see we had to pack all this stuff up here from down 
below on burros. Originally there was four j'ints 
of pipe but the cinch wasn't drawed tight enough 
on that burro that was carryin' them, an' two of 
'em slipped out an' rolled down the mountain. 
When we got here an' found that there wasn't but 
two pieces left I reckoned I would have to kinder 
h'ist the stove up to make it fit the pipe. So I 
jest h'isted her, an' there she is yet. Say, what's 
all this money on the table for?" 

There was a deep silence, while all the learned 
•men looked at each other, and it lasted so long 
that the guide ventured to repeat the question. 

'Tt is a jack pot," said the doctor, sadly, ''and 
as near as I can make out it belongs to you." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

WOMEN AND POKER ARGUMENTS TO SHOW THAT 

THEY can't play AND A STORY TO PROVE 
THAT THEY CAN. 

Can women play poker ? 

Ought women to play poker? 

These are two distinct questions and must be 
decided on their separate merits. 

Take the last question first. Ought women to 
play poker? Of course. Why not? Don't they 
do every thing else that men do ? They have even 
had a try at base ball. Women would resent with 
indignation the idea that they should be debarred 
from cards, and when you once start who is going 
to draw the line ? The point that poker is a gamb- 
ling game is no point at all, because a bet can be 
made on any game, even mumble peg. Society is 
always erecting imaginary barriers between men 
and w^omen and they are always being overturned. 

Women have been insisting strenuously for the 
last twenty years at least that they have just sm 
many rights as men, and the men have finally ad- 
mitted that the point is well taken. Of course, this 
has its serious side, as in the case of the lady who 
was standing up in the street car. A man asked 
her if she was a "woman righter," and when she 

114 



WOMEN AND POKER. 115 

admitted that she was, he told her to stand up and 
enjoy her rights Hke a man. 

So if a woman wants to play poker she should 
not be hindered, but it must be understood that she 
has no better right to the top hand than her man 
opponent. Cards are not at all gallant, and they 
will not run her way just because the fingers that 
hold them are fair and feminine. 

But now, can a woman play poker? Physically, 
of course; but I mean play the game as it should 
be played? No, she cannot. And yet they say 
poker is like a woman. Uncertain, hard to under- 
stand, fascinating, and has to be approached in a 
different way about every time you meet her. Then 
again, it is only the young and inexperienced that 
know all about women, and it is only the fresh 
young amateur that knows all about poker. Old 
bachelors and married men confess that all they 
know about poker is that they ought to stay out of 
the game, and can't. Same w^ay about women. 
These old and experienced chaps lose confidence 
in their knowledge of women the more they meet 
them. 

I do not contend that no woman can play poker ; 
there are exceptions to every rule, and as we shall 
see further along, there are women poker players ; 
I am talking about women in general. There are 
a great many reasons why a woman cannot play 
poker. 



ii6 JACK POTS. 

She is too nervous, and hasn't the physical 
strength. It is all very well to play from eight to 
ten in a parlor, with buttons for chips and where 
the winners give back the money at the end of the 
game. And it is easy enough to take a hand with 
a party of gentlemen visiting your husband, where 
the hands are played to the accompaniment of 
laughter and jokes, and all the men are deferential, 
and call just to see what you are doing it on, or 
let you get away with a transparent bluff, or play 
with six cards, because they take pleasure in see- 
ing how you enjoy the game. 

But that isn't poker. The late Richard Proctor 
used to call the usual game of whist "bumble- 
puppy" to distinguish it from the real game as 
played by experts, and parlor poker is entitled to 
an equally derisive name. There isn't one woman 
in a hundred thousand who could sit down al a 
poker table at eight in the evening and play until 
daylight broke in the East. She would faint or 
have hysterics, and would certainly have to call 
in the doctor next day. When I mentioned 
this point to a charming woman the other day she 
replied that when women played the gentlemen 
would make special rules for their benefit. 

That illustrates from what standpoint a woman 
views the game of poker. She would exact def- 
erence and indulgence; she would regard it as a 
personal insult if she were reproached for being 



WOMEN AND POKER. ii7 

slow or making a misdeal, or committing any one 
of the little lapses of which the best of players are 
guilty. 

Women cannot play poker because they are very 
poor losers. Some men are in the same boat, but 
they have the grace to hide it as best they can, 
but women are not ashamed to get angry and make 
an exhibition of their distress. It is impossible to 
imagine a woman losing a thousand dollars and 
meeting the winner next week with a smooth coun- 
tenance. A woman would take it as a personal in- 
sult to be called down on a bluff. 

No man could play with a woman and be free 
to play his hand for all it was w^orth. He would 
always be handicapped with the thought that she 
was one of the weaker sex. Can you imagine, for 
instance, a man who w^as sweet on a girl, beating 
a flush that she held ? If he did it would be good- 
by to his prospects. 

Then again, a woman is a born cheat. No one 
who has ever watched a woman play cards will dis- 
pute that assertion. In euchre she will renege, and 
in every game she will hold out cards, and violate 
all the rules of the game, trusting to her sex to 
be excused. Her pretty, manners and her flirta- 
tious ways are supposed to be an excuse for her 
cheating, but they would get very tiresome in a 
game for keeps. In a board game like faro or rou- 
lette a woman is playing against a machine, and she 



ii8 JACK POTS. 

has no particular adversary, which accounts for the 
fact that women gamble at Monte Carlo and make 
no particular scene when they lose, but poker is a 
game where personalities count. 

I have been told that women make good poker 
players because they have an instinct that men 
have not. Excuse me if I say ''Bosh." Instinct 
doesn't amount to a row of beans in poker. If 
women could read faces as claimed and judge from 
them what the men really think there wouldn't be 
so many unhappy marriages in the world. A man 
who sat down to beat a woman in a poker game, 
and cast all sentiment aside, could break her if she 
were a millionaire. All such stories emanate from 
sappy youths who have been playing with the girl 
of their choice, or married men who play in the 
parlor with beans. Here is a sample of the way a 
newspaper man writes when he is short of copy, 
and wants to square himself with the fair sex. 

''Women are the best poker players, barring 
Chinamen. Take a sharp, shrewd, beautiful wo- 
man. She can beat a man every time after she has 
learned the rudiments of the game. Ladies have 
been made natural poker players. They are so coy 
and- designing, and dissimulation with them is not 
an acquired art. It is their second nature. Decep- 
tion is so easy for them that they easily outwit 
men. They size up men more quickly than we can 
fathom their thoughts. 



WOMEN AND POKER. 119 

"Have you ever heard a lady exclaim: 'Oh, 
how glad I am to see you ; perfectly charmed, don't 
you know !" Then you wander away to a secluded 
spot and wonder if she was bluffing. Well, you 
encounter the same proposition with women in a 
poker game, only you haven't got time to take a 
secluded walk by yourself and meditate and deter- 
mine whether she is bluffing or not, when she says 
with a bewitching, coaxing Httle smile, arching her 
eyebrows, and glancing innocently at you out of 
the corner of her eye, T think my hand is worth 
$1,500 more.' 

"Ever been there? No? Well, Fve been in a 
good many tight places, where I had to think 
quickly, but I am free to confess that the v/oman 
was too much for me." 

The man that wrote that never played more than 
five cent ante in his life. The idea of a woman 
raising $1,500 with a roguish twinkle in her eye! 

A story from Bar Harbor lets a little light in on 
the way women play poker. It was some years ago 
when poker was taken up as a fad, as automobil- 
ing is now, and as w^omen take up anything. A 
party of women were initiated into the mysteries of 
penny ante, and pretty soon the bridle was loos- 
ened and they were playing with white chips at fifty 
cents and the limit taken off. 

It went on this way for about three weeks, they 
meeting every night, betting and bluffing in their 



I20 JACK POTS. 

''bewitching" way, and thinking they were hav- 
ing a terribly wicked time. 

Of course there was a tremendous amount of 
cheating, and as there happened to be one woman 
in the party who didn't cheat, she was soon broke, 
and also in the soup to the amount of $300 in the 
w^ay of I O U's. She thought she saw her way 
out of the dilemma, and resorted to a genuine fem- 
inine trick. She ordered four fine gowns from her 
dressmaker, and the bill, amounting to $300 was 
sent home. The husband handed the amount to 
his wife. 

She didn't do a thing with it but take it to the 
poker table, pay off $200 of her debt, and with the 
balance try to win back what she had lost. You can 
imagine what happened. She lost her hundred, 
and had to give some more I O U's. Then she 
put of¥ the dressmaker until the latter got tired 
and sent the bill to her husband. Then there was 
a scene. She confessed all, gave all the names of 
the poker players and the indignant husband wrote 
to each one of them demanding the immediate re- 
turn of the money won from his wife. Then there 
was hysterics all around, the money was returned, 
the circle broke up in admired disorder, mutual re- 
criminations were the order of the day, and every 
sweet player vowed that she would never speak to 
any of the others. 

Just try to imagine any such scene occurring 
among men ! 



WOMEN AND POKER. 121 

And now, having- demonstrated that a woman 
cannot play poker it is no more than right to tell 
a story about a woman who could and did play 
poker. But it will be noticed that we have to go 
i)ack about fifty years for an example, and then 
there is something supernatural in it. 

In the suburbs of Trenton, New Jersey, there is 
an old landmark known as the Mills Tavern. This 
tavern was also a toll house, and was kept for more 
than fifty years by a woman called Martha Mills, 
who, by her commission on the tolls she collected 
and the profits on the tavern made quite a small 
fortune. 

To these savings she added some thousands of 
dollars made in her dealings with politicians who 
came to the tavern to lay plans and pull wires for 
the passage of certain laws through the legislature. 
As Martha had a keen eye for business she made 
these men pay special prices, and her terms were 
always cash. She had discovered that a politician 
was apt to be here to-day and gone to-morrow, so 
to speak. Indeed, she was wont to boast that she 
liad very small confidence in human nature, espe- 
cially of the male persuasion, and her favorite re- 
mark was that she wouldn't trust a man as far as 
she could throw a church by the steeple. 

Among her other accomplishments ^lartha was 
an expert poker player, and coupled with her 
knowledge of the game had an uncanny accom- 



122 



JACK POTS. 



paniment that made her a dangerous antagonist. 
She would never take a hand unless there were 
seven players, and she had an abiding faith in the 

number seven. 
She explained 
that peculiarity 
by saying that 
she was the 
seventh daugh- 
ter of a seventh 
daughter and 
thus had rea- 
son to believe 
in the number 
s e V e n. Her 
confidence in this num- 
ber always prompted her 
to draw cards to it no 
matter what odds were 
against her. If there was 
a seven spot in her hand she w^ould draw to it, and 
when she did the pot generally floated her way. 

Away back in those olden days there were some 
sharp poker players among the New Jersey legis- 
lators and politicians, and when they felt like mak- 
ing a night of it without being disturbed they held 
a session at Mills Tavern, in a big room in a re- 
mote part of the house. Here, with a jug 
of apple jack on the floor and plenty of tobacco, 




" I'm the seventh daughter of a 
seventh daughter," said ■ 
Martha. 



WOMEN AND POKER. 123 

the players sweated and cussed and rejoiced as the 
case might be. There was a kitty, and Martha 
was always around to see that it w^as duly hon- 
ored. 

It was Martha's boast up to the day of her death 
that she had never been kissed by a man since her 
childhood days, and she won a good many dollars 
from men who, more from fun than anything else — 
since Martha was no peach — stacked their dollars 
against her kisses. 

A man from Hunterdon County came nearer 
winning the prize than any other. It happened 
one night when Martha consented to take a hand 
in a game from which one of the players had been 
called. 

She played that night in great luck, and she 
gathered in the chips with such monotonous regu- 
larity that at midnight the other players declared 
that it was no use trying to break her luck, and 
that the game might as well be stopped. 

"I'm willing," said Martha, fingering the chips 
that were stacked in front of her and making a 
gloating calculation of their value. 

"Hold on, boys," said Honeywell, a politician 
from Cape May County, "let's play one more hand 
for a kiss. Martha can bet her kisses against our 
money and every kiss shall be valued at ten dol- 
lars. What do you say?" 

The m^n, of course, favored the proposition. 



124 JACK POTS. 

"You never knew me to back out of a game of 
poker," said Martha, with a confident smile. 

The deal went around to Martha before the pot 
was opened. Honeywell opened it for $io, the 
Hunterdon County man raised it $20 and Martha 
stayed with three kisses, valued at $30. 

Honeywell, who had opened the pot with a pair 
of jacks and who had been playing in hard luck 
ever since the game started, threw his hand in the 
table with an expression of disgust, and refused 
to see the raise. The other four players had not 
come in, and the pot w^as between the Hunterdon 
man and Martha. 

''Cards?" said Martha, as she picked up the pack. 

'Til play these," said he, "and bet you $50 I've 
got you beat." That meant five kisses if Martha 
should call him, in addition to the three already 
bet. "Don't be afraid to call me, Martha," he 
added, banteringly. "Eight kisses won't hurt you 
any more than three will." 

"I'm the seventh daughter of a seventh daugh- 
ter/' said Martha, as she slowly counted the cards 
off the pack. She drew four, threw her discard on 
the table, and ran her eyes' over the cards she had 
drawn. She contemplated them carefully for a 
minute, and then looking her opponent in the eye, 
said : "I'll raise you five kisses. I don't w^ant 
your money, and my advice to you is to not call 
me." 



WOMEN AND POKER. 125 

Everybody around the table burst into a roar of 
laughter. 

"Well, Martha," said he, ''you're a cool one and 
no mistake. You are trying to bluff a pat hand 
with a four card draw. I've got already thirteen 
kisses coming to me, but I guess we can both stand 
more, so I'll raise you $50." 

"I'll see that and raise you five more kisses," said 
Martha, calmly. "That's twenty-three kisses I owe 
you if your hand beats mine, but again I tell you 
to keep out." 

"Not with this hand," he replied, with a 
chuckle. "I'd rather kiss you thirty-three times 
than twenty-three, so I'll raise you a hundred dol- 
lars.'^ 

"Well, sir," said Martha, with a grim smile, "I've 
given you a good chance to save your money and 
you don't seem to want to do it ; now if you want 
to kiss me you've got to pay for it. I'll see your 
raise and bet you twenty more kisses that I've got 
the winning hand." 

The Hunterdon man paused to reflect. It would 
be a great triumph to snatch fifty-three kisses from 
Martha's lips, but he had been up against her luck 
before, and his funds were running low. He 
scanned his hand again. It was very stout — three 
aces and a pair of fives, and they looked very en- 
couraging. At the same time it would take $200 
to call, and he was not a rich man. But what could 



126 JACK POTS. 

he do ? It would never do to sacrifice the pot now. 
He shoved $190 into the pot and said: "I'll call 
you, Martha. I'm $10 shy." 

"I don't play shy pots," said Martha, coldly. 

The Hunterdon man had to borrow $10 to make 
good. 

''I'm the seventh daughter of a seventh daugh- 
ter," said Martha, as she slowly spread her cards 
on the table. ''I held a seven-spot, and I drew 
three more." 

If you can swallow that story perhaps this will 
not be too strong for };our stomach. It also con- 
cerns this wonderful Martha Mills. 

The New Jersey legislature was in session and 
the railroads had several important bills that they 
wanted passed, and as a consequence the lobbyists 
and members had money to burn. This made grist 
for Miss Martha's mill, and the kitty was a fat 
one every night. 

One night six crack players came together in 
the tavern and Martha was invited to take a hand. 
She objected, on the strange ground that she felt 
unusually lucky, and suggested that they had bet- 
ter leave her out. But all the others protested that 
they also felt lucky, and insisted that she should 
sit in with them. They adjourned to the private 
room and began what w^as probably the shortest 
big game ever played. 

"Now," said one of the players, before the hands 



WOMEN AND POKER. 127 

were dealt, 'iet's find out which one of us lias the 
least money, and we'll watch his pile and play for 
table stakes." 

The proposition met with approval of the other 
players. The man who had the least money was 
Sinclair, an Essex County man, and he had $300. 
♦He spread the money on the table, and the next 
minute there was $2,100 on the board. 

Henry \\'hitehead, a South Jersey assemblyman, 
dealt the cards, and the pot was opened by Miles 
Graham, who started the ball with a bet of $20. 
The player next to him raised theT^et $50. Martha 
saw the $70 and the man on her left raised the 
bet $50. When it came to the opener to see all 
the raises he gave it another boost of $50, and that 
was raised $50 and then another $100. Meanwhile 
Martha simply trailed along. 

Graham was confident that he had the best hand, 
for he raised the third, fourth and fifth time, and 
came to a standstill only when all the money was 
piled on the centre of the table. 

'That's a pretty comfortable looking pile," re- 
marked one of the players. 

"Enough to buy cordwood for winter," said the 
hostess. 

There were six pat hands out, and Martha was 
the only one to draw. ''Well, gentlemen," she 
said, ''it's all in the draw anyhow, and if I make 
my hand I take the money, It's a show down, so 



128 



JACK POTS. 



here's my hand." She spread out the trey, four, 
five and six of diamonds and the ten of hearts. 

"Now, Whiter 
head," said she, 
as she discarded 
the ten of hearts, 
"you may give* 
me the seven- 
spot of dia- 
monds; then I'll 
have a straight 
flush." 

Whitehead dealt 
a card, turning it 
over as he threw 
it down, and to 
the amazement of 
the players it was 
the seven-spot of 
diamonds. The 
straight flush was made and it won the pot. This 
ended the game, which lasted exactly four min- 
utes, and Martha's profits were $i,8oo. 

That is the story, and you can believe just as 
much of it as you please. When you think it over, 
you can endeavor to recall how many railroads 
there were in 1850, and how awfully flush the lob- 
byists were in those days. You may also ask your- 
self whether it was the fashion to play straight 




" Now you may give me the seven-spot of 
diamonds." 



WOMEN AND POKER. 129 

flushes fifty years ago. Of course if you can settle 
these points to your satisfaction, it will not be diffi- 
cult to believe these two anecdotes about the sev- 
enth daughter of a seventh daughter. 



CHAPTER IX. 

OLD TIME POKER IN THE SOUTH A JACK POT OF 

NIGGERS COLONEL RAFAEL AND 

HIS HONOR. 

It is a mighty hard thing to escape from the 
Oldest Inhabitant in this country. He is ahvays 
present and he makes his presence known. The 
Oldest Inhabitant has spoiled more than a million 
stories, and the man with a string of fish does weli 
to get out of the way when he sees him coming. 
He has it all made up that nothing that happens 
now is or can be as great or as wonderful as some- 
thing in the past, and as all his witnesses are dead 
and you cannot very well accuse him of downright 
falsehood, he gets aw^ay with his statements every 
time. 

To make the matter worse there are in every 
town a number of men who are in training to be 
Oldest Inhabitants. They are the fellows who are 
always talking about the palmy days of every- 
thing — the drama, baseball, hunting, dancing — any 
old thing that exists to-day. Poker, for instance. 
They don't play poker like they used to do; oh, 
dear no ! In the palmy days the games were ten 
times as long and a hundred times more exciting, 
and as for the money bet — why, it is simply impos- 

130 



OLD TIME POKER IN THE SOUTH. 131 

sible to estimate the oceans of money that used to 
pass over the cloth. 

As ilkistrating the perfectly ferocious way they 
used to play poker in the palmy days, the reminis- 
cence of a gentleman from one of the lower coun- 
ties of Georgia, as told in the Kimball House, At- 
lanta, may be taken as a sample. 

"Poker is a mighty funny thing," he said. "You 
never know when you have run against a good 
player. Take me, for instance. I was here in the 
Legislature, years ago, and I know I didn't appear 
to be what you call up-to-date — not a bit of it. But 
I did know how to play poker. Learned it down 
our way, with the boys. The members from 
Augusta and Macon and Savannah thought they 
had a soft piece of pie when they got me into the 
first game. Well, you oughter seen how they got 
beautifully left. 

'T was here in the Legislature the whole of that 
session, and I sent supplies home to the folks every 
now and then, built and paid for a new corn crib, 
bought the old lady a new stove and a sewing 
machine and hadn't touched a per diem, which Bob 
Hardman paid me in bulk at the end of the session. 
I tell you, them fellers was surprised in their man !" 

There was high rolling for you! A stove and a 
sewing machine and a corn crib — he must have 
been ahead nearly a hundred dollars. And here 
is what another old-timer of Tennessee let off in 
Memphis the other day. 



132 JACK POTS. 

''Times ain't what they used to be in this town. 
In them days, 'long about '66, '67 and '68, money 
was plentiful and sportin' people rolled them high. 
Jefferson street from No. 9 clean down to Third 
street was gamblin' houses, and everyone was 
straight except two. And say, that puts me in 
mind of a lucky play I had one time, which sounds 
like a fairy tale, but it's true. I beat the game at 
No. 40 Jefferson street, and they didn't do a thing 
but deal the old thing there. It was one of the 
brace houses, and the fellers that worked there were 
so crooked that they slept in beds made in the 
shape of the letter S. They couldn't get no rest 
in no other kind. 

''Up at the El Dorado on Saturday nights the 
keno game began at seven o'clock, at fifty cents a 
card, and ran that way until nine, and then it was 
a dollar a card. Well, I goes down there one 
night, and havin' my luck with me by twelve 
o'clock I had salted away $600. Next day it was 
rainin' and drizzlin', and I didn't have nothin' else 
to do, so I dropped in No. 40 and took a hand at 
poker. I knew the game was bent, but I had this 
money and didn't mind takin' a chance. 

"I hadn't been in the game long until I picks up 
four aces. I bet them up and down and all around, 
and a little man across the table keeps comin' back 
at me. When it came to a show down I had him 
beat, and the banker announces that the game is 
broke. 



OLD TIME POKER IN THE SOUTH. 



^33 



''I loafs around until they gets another stake, 
and the game starts again. Would I take a hand ? 
Of course I would, and I did. I played along and 
finally picks up four deuces. I keeps bettin' them, 
until the show 
down comes 
again, and of 
course I has the 
other feller 
beat. The 
banker says the 
game is broke 
again and I 
cashes in. They 
were fixin' up 
hand s, y o u 
know, and I 
gets the cooler 
twice when i t 
was meant for the other 
man. The man who was 
to get the cooler gets my 
hand and of course he 
thinks he has the cooler, 
so he bets the bank's roll 
at me. 

''The man who owns the joint was upstairs 
asleep, and they went and woke him up, for another 
stake, maybe. He comes down all on fire, and he 
says : 




"Where's the sucker that broke 
this game?" 



134 * JACK POTS. 

'' 'Where's the sucker that broke this game?' 

"And I says: 'He's right here, but he ain't no 
sucker.' He knows me, and when I says that, he 
smiles and says : 'Well, if anybody has to get it, 
I'm glad it's you. But, say, you're mighty lucky.' 

''And then he turns around and fires the flat- 
heads that fixed up the hands wrong. I wouldn't 
tell this story unless I could prove it, and the man 
that can prove it is right back in the saloon yon- 
der." 

And the man back in the saloon was called in 
and swore to it. Wliich goes to prove either that 
it didn't happen or else that they had some mighty 
clumsy brace men in the palmy days. 

Honestly, though, there were palmy poker days 
in the South in the time when cotton was king. A 
certain class had a lot of money, and had it in the 
very worst way for them. For eleven months in 
the year they made nothing, and then when the 
crop was sold they got their money all in a bunch, 
provided, of course, that they had not mortgaged 
it in advance. As a consequence they had a high 
old time while the money lasted. It was some- 
thing like getting a legacy once a year, and we all 
know what the average man does with that. It 
was a happy-go-lucky way of living, a peculiarity 
of the South, and its only parallel is seen in mining 
camps when some formerly unlucky prospector 
strikes it rich. 

Take a man with ten to twenty thousand dollars 



OLD TIME POKER IN THE SOUTH, 135 

in his pocket, a man who has not known what it 
is to finger more than a twenty-dohar bill for 
months, and turn him loose, and it is not hard to 
predict what will happen. If he knows anything 
about cards — and gambling was once part of a 
Southern man's education — he is going to play 
them to the top of his bent. Then again, the very 
nature of a Southern man was to be free and liberal, 
and in nothing can freeness and liberality be better 
displayed than in betting. Can it be wondered 
that many a Southern planter, after selling his crop 
in the Xorth, started home with a large wad, and 
arrived there with nothing left but his honor? 

These times have passed, never to come again. 
Poker is still played in the South, and it will never 
die out, but the day of big stakes and reckless bet- 
ting has gone into history. While it lasted it per- 
meated young as well as old. As the old cock 
crows the young one learns and the boys were not 
a whit behind their seniors. 

One December night not so many years ago a 
party of seniors in the Southern University were 
having a social game of poker. This old college 
had turned out at about the same time Howell 
Cobb, Alexander Stephens, Robert Toombs and 
other famous characters of the oiden days, and was 
redolent of reminiscences. 

Uncle Tub was the night watchman of the 
campus. He saw a light in the room, when all the 
rest of the building was dark, and as in duty bound 



136 JACK POTS. 

he crawled up three flights of stairs and walked into 
the room without ceremony, causing the utmost 
consternation. 

''Hi! I cotch yer!" he exclaimed. "Fse gwine 
ter lay it all out ter de doctor 'bout dis yere fust 
class sittin' up here after hours an' gamblin', jess 
like der Jews." 

The crowd immediately surrounded the old man 
and protested that they were simply boning up for 
an "exam," but Uncle Tub would have none of it. 

''Go 'way, boss," he said, sternly. "Ain't I done 
heard de rattle of de chips? Ain't I done seed yer 
wipe in dat dar jack pot?" 

"What?" 

"Dat jack pot," Uncle Tub repeated with em- 
phasis. "Ain't I done seed yer wipe it in? Don't 
tell me." 

Uncle Tub's knowledge of the game came as a 
revelation. 

"Uncle Tub," said the tall senior at the end of 
the table, "I am astonished at you. You are a 
deacon in the church, and a man of unquestioned 
probity, and I cannot believe that you are acquaint- 
ed with the sinful game of poker as your words 
would indicate." 

"Dat's all right, boss," returned the old man. 
"I wasn't always a deacon." 

"Do you mean to say that you have played 
poker?" 



OLD TIME POKER IN THE SOUTH. 



137 



''No; I ain't adzactly played de game." 
''Then what do you know about it?'' 
The old darkey had seated himself upon a trunk 
with his lantern dangling between his knees, and 
he assumed an air of dignity terrible to witness. 

"De good Lawd, boss," he said, with his eyes 

cast up to the ceiling, "don't ax me about kyards, 

kase dem is sinful things, an' I know more about 

dem dan you kin tell me in a thousand years. You 

boys oughter 

bin here in de 

days afore de 

wall. Dem was 

s h o days a n' 

dem was s h o 

poker players. 

I know lots 

about de Bible 

now an' kin 

quote from 

Genysis ter de 

R e V u 1 a- 

shun, but in 

dem days I 

knows poker 

from A ter Z." 

"Oh, come now, Uncle Tub," said the senior, 
warningly. "We can't believe that." 

"Don't believe it? Lemme tell yer," said the 




" I was in a jack pot of niggers once." 



138 JACK POTS. 

old man, waxing indignant. "I was in a jack pot 
of niggers one time." 

"What's that?" The students had left their 
places by this time, and encircled the old darkey, 
who swelled with pride at the attention he was at- 
tracting. 

"I say I was in a jack pot of niggers one time," 
repeated Uncle Tub, "an' Marse Henry won me," 
repeated the old watchman, slowly and thought- 
fully. Then he put his lantern on the floor and 
told his story. 

'-'Dat war long time afore de wah," he said slow- 
ly. "Most of de young bucks what come to col- 
lege in dem days had der nigger man wid 'em. I 

belong to young Marse George B . He was a 

Satan, dat boy, but his daddy was er angel. 

"Dere was fouh of 'em — all young bucks, jes 
like you all. Dere was fouh of us niggers, too ; all 
about de same age, an' we all sets dere an' sees de 
game. I tell you, chillun, dat was a game. It 
kep' gittin' hotter an' hotter. My young marse 
lose all his cash an' then he gin to lose what wasn't 
cash. He gits madder an' madder. Marse H^nry 

C w^on all de stakes, an' jes nacherly keeps on 

winnin' lak he born to win. 

"Atter while my young marse say: 

" 'Damme, dar goes all I'se got in de worl' but 
Tobe.' Dat's what dey call me in dem days — 
Tobe. 'Fore I knowed it I done heard him say: • 



OLD TIME POKER IN THE SOUTH. I39 

" 'Les make a jack pot outen de niggers.' 

''Dey was all in for it. Dey ax de udder niggers 
an' yer humble servant to stand in de middle of de 
flo', an' Marse George he dole de kyards. He 
ketched a good pair, kase he axed me to step up 
to de table. 

" 'I opens dis pot,' he says, Svid Tobe.' 

" '1 stays in it wid Jack,' says Marse Henry 

C , axin' Jack, his nigger, ter step 'long side 

of me. 

''De rest of the gemmuns dey puts dere niggers 
in too, an' dar we was, waitin' for de call of de 
cards. 

"Well, I kaint tell how- it happens, but Marse 
Henry C won de whole lot of us, hair an' hide. 

"Den he says, 'Good-night, gemmuns,' an' he 
walks down stairs, us a-follerin' lak sheep. 

"I mout er belonged to dat man to dis day, but 
nex' mawnin' Marse George's pa he comes to de 
college an' buys me back. Den he tells Marse 
George he can't hab no nigger to wait on him." 

"What became of the rest of the colored men?" 
asked the tall senior. 

"Law, honey," responded Uncle Tub, "I reckon 
dey was all bought back lak me. But dat ain't got 
nothin' to do wid dis. You better stop dis gam- 
blin'. Hit'll git ye into tribulation." 

Although it is almost a safe bet to say thru all 
Southern men play poker, there is a marked differ- 



I40 JACK POTS. 

ence in the way they play it. Gentlemen of the 
old school have a way of playing on honor that is 
apt to confuse the moderns, who have reduced the 
game to a science. With the latter the "board is 
the play'' — that is, only a show down wins, and 
what you say goes for nothing. In the old school 
a gentleman's word is as good as his cards, and 
when Majah Dudley says "I have two pairs, kings 
up," and Captain Wing replies, "Mine are threes," 
the Majah throws his hand into the deck, and takes 
another drink, without asking for verification. 
Common sense inclines to the modern school ; sen- 
timent supports the school of honor. It is only 
when the two schools come together that there is 
any trouble. 

Colonel Rafael of Alabama was a player of the 
old school. He learned his cards before the war 
with a party of rich plantation men like himself, 
who made poker playing a pastime but not a craze. 
Perhaps twice a month they would meet at the 
residence of one of their number, and there on the 
broad porch, attired in cool linen, with plenty of 
tobacco, and two or three bright colored boys at 
hand to furnish mint juleps and kindred beverages 
ad libitum, they reclined in easy chairs and whiled 
away a couple of hours in a game that never roused 
the passions or excited future animosity. The sup- 
ply of chips was meagre, and they were used mostly 
for anteing, since nearly all the betting was by 
word of mouth. 



OLD TIME POKER IN THE SOUTH. 141 

Judge J would say languidly, "I open this pot 
for five dollars," and Major P would say, ''Judge, 
I'll have to raise you about ten dollars." Where- 
upon the Judge would reply, "V\\ call you, Major." 
''A pair of tens, sah," says the Major. ''That's 
good," says the Judge, and tosses his cards on the 
table face downward, and the Major does the same, 
and rakes in the chips. Once .i» a while, after a 
stiff argument back and forth, the players might 
show their hands, just to explain why they thought 
they had the other fellow beaten, and then there 
would be a great amount of dignified talk about the 
peculiarities and possibilities of the great national 
game, but no one for a moment entertained the 
idea that any one would miscall his hand. A 
sharper sitting in such a game would have won all 
the plantations in time,- but there was no chance 
of such a happening. Strangers were rare in those 
days, and when one was introduced he had excel- 
lent recommendations. 

When the war came, poker was discarded for a 
sterner game. The Colonel served through the 
entire conflict, and had no time for relaxation. 
After the war when he went back to his plantation 
he found it only in name. The slaves were gone, 
four out of five of his old chummies were dead or 
gone no one knew where, and in addition the Colo- 
nel needed every cent he could rake and scrape, to 
plant crops, make repairs and in a general way put 



142 • JACK POTS. 

the plantation on a paying basis once more. It 
was hard scratching for five or six years, but the 
Colonel was not a man to sit down with his finger 
in his mouth and cry about the ill fortunes of war, 
so that in time he got out of debt, saw^ his w'ay to 
a fair income, and felt that he could afford to take 
a little relaxation. 

It was in the winter of '71 and ^']2 he came 
North. He stopped on his way at Richmond, 
where he met a few old army friends, and at Wash- 
ington, w^iere he met more, and then he extended 
his trip to New York, w'hich he had last seen in 
1859. -^s may be imagined the big town was a 
sight to this fine old Southern gentleman. Very 
few New Yorkers realize what an immense change 
has taken place in their city since before the war, 
and although since 1872 improvement has been 
much more rapid, there was enough in '72 to just- 
ify the Colonel's amazement. For several days he 
w^alked Broadway, curious to see, and an object of 
curiosity to others. Before the war the Colonel 
would have been no unusual sight, but times had 
changed, and he with his stately stride, immense 
head of white hair, and calm, imperious air, seemed 
like a visitor from a past age. 

It was on the fourth day of his stay that the 
Colonel met a man he knew. It was in front of 
the St. Nicholas, and the friend was one who had 
been a lieutenant in his regiment. After Appo- 



OLD TIME POKER IN THE SOUTH. 143 

matox, Lieutenant Wickes studied law for three 
years in Baltimore, and then came to New York 
to practice. He had been rather successful and 
was prepared to introduce his old commander to 
several of the best clubs. In fact, they went to one 
that very night, and that is where the Colonel had 
his introduction to the modern game of poker. 

A city judge, a leading physician, a banker, the 
Colonel and his friend Wickes made up the party, 
and the game was played in a snug room, with 
cigars and cocktails handy. For quite a time the 
game went on without any special incident. It 
was recalled afterward that the Colonel was a 
steady loser. Once or twice he called and re- 
sponded ''good" in his old-fashioned way, wdien his 
opponent's hand was announced, and on the occa- 
sions when he was called he announced his hand, 
and when beaters were shown, threw^ his cards into 
the deck without comment, except a courtly little 
bow. It was a game of easy stakes, very little 
blufifing, no high betting, and a great deal of talk- 
ing and story telling, so that the Colonel might 
have imagined that he w^as back on the piazza of 
the old plantation. 

Then there came a hand in which he was disillu- 
sionized. It was the banker's deal, and the Colo- 
nel held the age. He got two aces, and it was one 
of the traditions of the Southern game to always 
raise on two aces before the draw^ Everybody 



144 



JACK POTS. 



came in and the Colonel raised it five dollars. 
Wickes and the judge stayed, the physician came 
back with ten more, and the banker dropped out. 
The Colonel chivalrously tilted in ten, and Wickes 
and the judge laid down. The judge saw the raise, 
and he and the Colonel drew cards. The judge 
drew one card to kings and fives and did not fill; 
the Colonel drew three and caught his ace. 

The judge bet a chip as a feeler; the Colonel 
raised it ten dollars. The judge said to himself; 
"He had a pair to go — probably aces. If he is 
bluffing I've got him ; if he has 
caught anything, even a pair, he 
has me beat. 
Therefore it is 
the best pohcy to 
call him now." 

The judge 
shoved a ten into 
the pot, and said, 'T'll 
call.'' 

"Three aces," said 
the Colonel, with a 
smile. 

"Beats two pair," 

said the judge, briefly. 

At the same time he spread his hand out on the 

table, and then' shoved them into the centre. The 

Colonel bowed and tossed his hand into the dis- 




They supposed he was about 
to have a fit. 



OLD TIME POKER IN THE SOUTH. i45 

card, and raked in the pot. The judge hesitated 
for an instant and then stretched out his hand. 

''Did you say three aces?" he asked. 

The Colonel looked at him in surprise. "I said 
three aces, sir," he said, calmly. 

The cards he had discarded were lying on top 
of the pack, and the judge leaned over and turned 
them up. The aces were there, of course, and the 
judge dropped them with the careless remark, ''All 
right," and sank back quietly in his chair. Not 
so the Colonel. For an instant his red face got 
redder, and then the color slowly receded, until it 
was absolutely pallid. The others noticed the 
change, and no one but Wickes could divine the 
cause, and not he right away. They supposed that 
he was about to have a fit, and the physician was 
on his feet in an instant. 

But the Colonel recovered his voice, and rose to 
his feet where he stood erect as if on parade. 

"Wickes," he said, sternly, "you introduced me 
here, and I want to ask you a question. Do you 
consider me a gentleman?" 

"Why, Colonel, what do you mean ?" stammered 
Wickes. 

"Answer me, sir !" 

"Certainly I do. Who has dared to dispute it?" 

"It has been disputed, sir," thundered the Colo- 
nel, looking at the judge, witheringly. "When a 
gentleman makes a statement, sir, and another man 



146 JACK POTS. 

doubts it, that is a reflection on the first gentle- 
man's honor, sir." 

''But, Colonel," said Wickes, soothingly, "no 
one has disputed your word." 

"Yes, there has been one," and he looked fixedly 
at the judge. 

Even then that functionary did not understand, 
but a great light broke in on Wickes. 

"Oh, yes ; I see ! You mean that the judge— — . 
But, Colonel, that is the way we play poker in New 
York. Every player is entitled to see all the hands 
played, and the judge had a right to see your 
cards." 

"A right, sir!" exclaimed the Colonel, angrily. 
"Of course you had a right, but the fact that you 
insisted on exercising that right shows that you 
doubted my word. By gad, sir, I told you I had 
three aces, and yet you deliberately looked at my 
cards, sir, to see if I spoke the truth ! I have seen 
the time, sir, when I would have called you out, sir, 
for less than that." 

By this time all the men were on their feet, and 

» 

they had realized that it was a very serious matter 
to the old gentleman. Unfortunately, the judge 
was a hard-headed product of Vermont, and 
although a gentleman beyond dispute, had no sym- 
pathy with such strained notions of honor; and to 
him the Colonel's rage was amusing. Conse- 
quently, although he apologized, and assured the 



OLD TIME POKER IN THE SOUTH. I47 

old man that he had not the least intention of giv- 
ing him offence, he would not admit that there was 
anything wrong in his insisting on a show of cards. 
What the others said was to no purpose, and the 
final result was that the Colonel threw up his cards, 
and left the house. 

''VVickes," he said, gravely, when they were out- 
side, ''I leave to-morrow for Alabama, and I wish 
you w^ere going with me. 
Believe me, this is no 
country for a gentleman. 
I could not live in a place 
where a man's word is 
not as good as his oath, 
and I don't see how you 
can. There may be 
money to be made here — 
I don't doubt ^ 
it, but where is 
the power to 

Unfortunately the Judge was a hard-headed 
enjoy it, unless product of Vermont. 

a man can be treated as a gentleman at all times? 
Wickes, it's lucky I didn't have my pistol with me 
to-night. Damme, the idea of being asked — good- 
by, Wickes!" 




CHAPTER X. 

POKER AND HYPNOTISM A YOUNG MAN WHO CAN READ 

CARDS HOW FIVE ACES WERE BEATEN THE MAN 

WHO LAID DOWN A STRAIGHT FLUSH. 

It is a mighty lucky thing that the professors 
of sleight of hand do not take to crooked card 
playing against the professionals, or that crooked 
card players do not go through an apprenticeship 
in sleight of hand before embarking on their nefari- 
ous careers. Of course the sharps think they can 
manipulate the papers in a way that defies detec- 
tion, but a man like Hermann or Kellar could cheat 
them while their noses wxre on the pack. 

Hermann, in his day, was fond of playing poker, 
but he never resorted to any tricks with the cards 
wdiile playing. There would have been no show 
for anyone else if he had. Imagine a man like that 
sitting in a game unknown with two or three fel- 
lows who thought they knew how to stack the 
cards ! He could have palmed a cold deck on them 
everv third deal if he had wished. 

But the real danger to the card sharps will come 
when the hypnotists get in their work. At present 
hypnotism seems to be in a respectable stage. It 
is regarded as something weird and almost sacred, 
something like spiritualism, and the experts only 

148 



POKER AND HYPNOTISM. I49 

use it to illustrate a lot of theories about the soul 
or the mind or things that nobody knows anything 
about. But of late a lot of cold-blooded scientists 
have delved into the question, and have pretty 
nearly proved that hypnotism can be learned, like 
chemistry or any other science. 

Now this means a great deal. If there is noth- 
ing sacred or holy about hypnotism, and it does 
not require that the hypnotist shall be good or 
pure, there will be a lot of fellows who will take 
it up for revenue only. They are going to use it 
in finance and trade, and after awhile some hypno- 
tist wall sit down to the card table, and skin every- 
body like sixty. Of course, if two of these hypno- 
tists run up against each other, there would be a 
mischief of a time. But then, I suppose, they 
would join hands, form a partnership, as it were, 
and keep up the skinning process. That would 
create a panic in crooked pokerdom. 

The danger is already imminent. Texas has 
produced a young man, named Victor Roy, who is 
a natural mind reader. He says that as soon as 
he looks into one's face for a minute the person's 
whole character and antecedents loom up plainly 
in his mind. You see, right at the start, he could 
size up the man who was trying to do him. Roy 
has been known to meet a man for the first time, 
and instantly tell him his name, his business, mar- 
ried or single, and all that kind of thing. He also 



150 JACK POTS. 

knows whether a man is' honest or otherwise, and 
he could make his fortune as a detective if so in- 
chned. 

But that isn't a circumstance to his deadly skill 
as a poker player. He does not really know how 
to play poker, that is, he has never played for 
keeps, and it is only recently that he has learned 
the relative rank of poker hands. At the same 
time it may be remarked that he doesn't have to 
learn much more than he knows now. 

He has been tested time and time again in games 
of poker and never loses. Many noted gamblers 
have called on him, . and put him to the test in 
games of poker. He eyes each player as they pick 
up their cards, and often before the betting begins 
he will call out to the man whO' has a flush, threes 
or a full, and tell him to take the chips, as he has 
the* best hand, and he never makes a mistake in 
doing so. A wealthy gambler from Denver offered 
him $5,000 a year to travel over the country and 
play for him. But Roy refused, saying that for 
him to play poker w^ould be nothing less than rob- 
bery of his victims. That is very true, but just 
suppose that some other man like that without 
Roy's scruples should take a tour of the card 
iooms! 

As a matter of fact, there is good evidence that 
some such man is abroad, working his remarkable 
powers on the unsuspecting. The tale is told 



POKER AND HYPNOTISM 151 

about a man who was taken in and done for, and 
in order to bring out all the weird effects it is well 
to let the victim tell his own story. 

''I quit playing poker, not to keep out of the 
poorhouse but to save myself from the madhouse. 
The last game I played came near sending me to 
one of the latter institutions, and since then I 
haven't so much as played whist, for at the sight 
of the cards I lose all certainty of myself and feel 
again the terrible sensations of that last game. 

''I had played all my adult life up to four years 
ago, and had been singularly fortunate, and to 
make a rough estimate I will say that fortune had 
favored me to the extent of at least $30,000 up to 
the time I am going to tell about. Of course, I 
did not save it all, as I was a high liver, but I had 
quite a sum with me when one day I took a notion 
to go to Havana. 

'T was then staying at Jacksonville, and from 
there I went to Tampa, and boarded the steamer 
Olivette, and was soon out on the Gulf. We had 
to touch at Key West, and I knew that we would 
have to spend the whole night on the boat, so I 
suggested to three other men, all apparently gen- 
tlemen, that we have a game of poker. They 
assented and we were soon playing in the saloon. 

''We had been playing perhaps an hour when I 
noticed a commonplace, everyday-looking fellow 
about thirty years old looking on at the game 



152 JACK POTS. 

rather inattentively, as if he took but^Httle interest 
in it, but was merely trying to keep himself occu- 
pied. Out of mere courtesy I asked him to join 
us, and he at first declined, but when all of us in- 
sisted he rose up and came over to our table. 

''He did not play the innocent, or work ofT any 
old game on the crowd, nor did he impress us as 
being an expert; just an ordinary gentleman 
player. He played as if he were only trying to 
pass the time away. At the end of three hours 
that fellow, who said his name was Callaway, kept 
bobbing up and down and playing such an even 
game that he wasn't ten dollars either way from 
the starting point. 

''It was then nearly midnight, so one of the 
crowd suggested that we take ofT the limit, and 
bet as high as we pleased during the last half hour. 
As no one objected, this was done, and then came 
lively betting. 

"I must have been $3,500 ahead of the game 
when the cards went hoodooed. We had a jack 
pot, made up of five-hundred-dollar bills, and for 
nine deals no one got a pair to open it. At every 
deal we sweetened that pot for another $500. 

^'Finally the cards, went to the other extreme 
and I could tell from the expressions on the faces 
of the other four men that everyone could open the 
pot. It was Callaway's say and he tossed in two 
one-hundred-dollar bills as a starter. He was met 



POKER AND HYPNOTISM. 153 

all around and then the drawing began. I neg- 
lected to say at the beginning that we w-ere play- 
ing the game with all the new-fangled attachments, 
such as a 'looloo,' composed of a pot draw of two 
diamonds and three clubs, which beats all the other 
hands, but which can be played only once in a 
single game. We were also playing with a fifty- 
three-card deck ; that is, we were playing the joker 
to count anything its holder might designate. The 
looloo had already been played, and I knew^ that 
no man in that crowd could beat the hand I held 
when we came to make this last draw. 

''Two men stood pat, and the other two drew 
one card each. I held four legitimate aces and a 
seven-spot. Not hoping for a better hand, but to de- 
ceive my opponents as to the strength of my hand, 
I discarded the seven-spot and drew one. When 
I looked at the new card I could hardly repress a 
whoop. It was the joker, making me five aces, a 
hand such as was never held before. 

"Then the battle began, and I have never seen 
such furious betting short of a party of millionaires. 
We kept raising the value of the pot, until it was 
worth half the salary of the president of the United 
States. I bet steadily and confidently, knowing 
no hand could beat mine except a looloo, and that 
had already been played. Finally all the others 
dropped out except Callaway, and to make sure 
that he was not betting under a misapprehension 



154 JACK POTS. 

I reminded him that the looloo had been played. 

" 'I'm not betting on a looloo. I'll raise you 
$500," he said, quietly. 

"As I had by this time put away about every 
dollar, and as I didn't care to rob the man, I called 
him. He looked seriously disappointed, and I 
wondered what the mischief kind of a hand he had. 

" 'Is that all you care to stake?' he asked, as if 
surprised that I should have lost my nerve. 

'' 'Not exactly,' I repHed, getting nettled. Til 
just pull in my call, and raise you a hundred.' 

" 'Good !' said Callaway, as he met my raise, and 
shoved in two hundred more. 

"I was beginning to get confused, and was un- 
certain of myself. I recalled that Callaway had 
shown himself to be a careful better, and I couldn't 
understand what impelled him to keep on. I got 
rattled as I sat there looking into his pale gray 
eyes and eager face. He kept his eyes fastened 
on my face while he played, and I began to think 
that he could read my hand from my expression. 
I made a feeble little raise, and after a long stare 
he slowly called my bet. 

"With the five aces, I suddenly felt a lack of con- * 
fidence, but I spread out the cards on the table, and 
said, boldly: 'Five aces ought to take the pot. 
Hand it over.' 

"I was just reaching out to rake in the spoils, 
about $28,000 in cold cash, when Callawa}^ spoke 
out in his smooth, easy tones: 



POKER AND HYPNOTISM. 



155 



" 'Not so fast, my friend. You are sufferini.; 
from ail optical delusion, caused from over-excite- 
ment. Those are not aces you hold, for I have 
four legitimate single-spotters,' and he held up his 
hand for me to look at. 

''Sure enough my eyes told me that he held four 
aces and a queen. Then he told me to take an- 




" Not so fast, my friend. Those are not aces you hold." 

other look at my hand, and to my intense surprise 
I saw that I had only a full house on jacks. He 
never moved his eyes from mine while he was talk- 
ing, and the glances of his gray orbs made me 
shiver uncomfortably. So he pocketed the money 
while I stood looking on without a protest. 
''The three other fellows had stepped to the 



156 JACK POTS. 

saloon sideboard to investigate a bottle, and as Cal- 
laway made the last note vanish they came back to 
the table and asked who won. 

'' 'I did,' answered Callaway. 

'' 'He did/ I said, like a schoolboy learning a 
lesson. 

Callaway said good-night and stepped out on the 
deck, while I fell back in my chair, cursing my bad 
luck. In a few moments one of the men called to 
me to come on deck for a breath of fresh air. The 
voice seemed to awaken me from a kind of sleep. 
I looked down at the two hands on the table and 
saw, as plainly as I ever saw the light of day, that 
the hand I had held was made up of four aces and 
the joker. I picked up Callaway's hand and was 
dazed to see nothing better than a bobtail flush. 

"I realized then that I had been cheated; that 
the fellow had cast over me some sort of magnetic 
spell and convinced me against my reason that his 
hand was the better. Then I made myself ridicu- 
lous. I ran on deck and charged him with cheat- 
ing me. 

*'He was quite gentle and courteous in his man- 
ner. He suggested to me that I was still suffer- 
ing from the effects of over-excitement and had 
better go to my bed and sleep it off. Of course 
the three other players sided in with him. They 
told me that I was surely insane to charge Calla- 
way with cheating, after I had told them in the 



POKER AND HYPNOTISM. 157 

saloon that he had won. From laughing at me 
they finally got angry, and in the end pushed me 
into my stateroom and locked me in. 

"I saw Callaway a year later in Memphis, and he 
was then giving exhibitions of wonderful mesmeric 
power, and then I was fully satisfied as to the cause 
of my fearful loss on board the Olivette." 

This is wonderful enough to be true, and yet it 
is not entirely convincing. It is just possible that 
the good drinking of the Olivette's sideboard went 
to our hero's head. There is a case on record 
where a winning hand was beaten without any re- 
course to hypnotism, and the other fellow didn't 
have a gun, neither. 

''You see," said the man who was the victim, 'T 
was a young fellow who got tangled up in poker 
with a lot of boys that could manipulate the cards, 
and I knew it, but I relied on my luck to pull me 
out even in the end. 

"As may be imagined, I got it in the neck with 
distressing frequency, but at last my time came. 
One of the best of the sharks was dealing in a five- 
handed game, and it was my age. As I picked up 
my hand after the cards had been dealt I discov- 
ered that I had the king, queen, jack, ten and nine 
of diamonds — a straight flush. 

''The three men behind me passed out in suc- 
cession, and I said to myself, 'That's just my luck.' 
But the dealer stayed, and I of course raised him. 



158 JACK POTS. 

He saw my raise and asked me how many cards I 
wanted. I told him to help himself, and as he dis- 
carded three cards I argued that, he had two aces, 
and oh ! how I prayed that he would get the other 
two, so that I could paralyze him. 

''After he had skinned his hand the betting be- 
gan, and it continued until my money was all up, 
and of necessity there was a call. I asked him 
what he had, and he replied, ''Four aces," the hand 
which I had given him credit for, and which my 
hand beat. I knew I had the winning hand, but 
somehow or other I said "It's good," and threw 
my hand into the deck. It touched the dead-wood 
before I could recover my scattered senses, and of 
course I was done for. 

"Then I turned over my cards and showed him 
what I had, but he took the pot. It was the first 
time on record that a straight flush was beaten by 
four aces without a gun. It was simply because 
for one second I got rattled. I have never held a 
straight flush since and never expect to hold one 
again. The man who doesn't know how to treat 
them right when they come along doesn't deserve 
to get them." 

The only match for this painful incident that I 
know occurred in Wyoming to a friend of mine. 
He had been sitting for three hours in the worst 
kind of luck, when he picked up a pat straight 
flush. It was his age, and there were five other 
players, and every mother's son passed out. 



POKER AND HYPNOTISM. 159 

He was so exasperated that he first spread out 
his hand on the table, then he tore up the cards, 
and finally he swore that he never would play 
poker again. And he kept his word — for nearly 
three weeks. 



CHAPTER XL 

A LIFE-LONG GAME THE GREAT MORGAN-DANIELSON 

BETTING MATCH FOUR HOURS TO OPEN A JACK 

POT THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR A NAP. 

As I remarked at the beginning, there is no 
doubt that it is both an advantage and an objection 
to the game of poker that it has no ending. There 
is no stipulated number of "points," no bank to 
break, and no time to quit, so that, if the money 
held out and there was a sufficient number of re- 
cruits to take the place of the dead and wounded, a 
poker game, like the brook in the poem, could run 
on forever. Even with the original players in- 
stances are not uncommon where men have played 
for thirty-six hours or more, until tired nature 
asserted herself and called the game. Of course, 
if recesses are taken, a game can go on forever. 

Edward W. Pettus, at one time senator from 
Alabama, was an inveterate poker player, and if the 
time that venerable gentleman spent in the game 
could be summed up many years would stand on 
the debit side of the ledger. 

There lived in Selma, Alabama, the town where 
the senator hailed from, in the early '70s, a wealthy 
railroad president, Major Lanier, of the old Ala- 
bama Central Railroad, running between Selma 

160 



A LIFE-LONG GAME i6i 

and Meridian, Miss., now a part of the Southern 
Railway system. The major and the senator were 
boon companions, with a friendship ahiiost as 
strong- as Damon and Pythias, and they used to 
spend their summers at the major's summer home 
in Talledega, above Sehiia. 

Here they put in about all of their time playing 
poker, and no one else was permitted to take a 
hand in the game. It was strictly a gentleman's 
game; very few chips and an unlimited number of 
I O U's. There was no hurry or excitement about 
the playing. Each gentleman took all the time he 
wanted to make his bets, and it was not unusual 
for the game to come to a standstill for fifteen or 
twenty minutes while a good story was told/ Five 
to ten dollars was about the average bet, but there 
was no limit, and once in a while the stakes mount- 
ed up into the hundreds. 

Old Manuel, the major's body servant, was 
always present at these games. He was the drink 
mixer and dispenser, took care of the chips and 
cards, and kept account of the winnings and los- 
ings. At the end of each year he would render 
accounts promptly, and whichever was indebted to 
the other would hand Manuel a check to square up 
the game. At the end of one year Pettus owed the 
major $10,000, another year the major was in- 
debted to the senator for $13,000, and so the 
game would run. And this was kept up until the 



i62 JACK POTS. 

major's death, when the senator stopped playing, 
as he would not take up with another partner. 

This, however, is not the record of one game, 
but of a series of games. A single game that last- 
ed a lifetime, and even longer, is much more won- 
derful. Governor Hogg, of Texas, never plays 
poker himself, but he can tell more good stories 
about poker than any other public man in his sec- 
tion of the country. His story of the great Mor- 
gan-Danielson game, is one of the most unique in 
all the history of poker. 

Old man Morgan was one of the most inveterate 
poker players in the Lone Star State away back in 
the '50s. His passion for the game was rivaled 
only by that of his bosom friend and neighbor, 
Major Danielson. The two old cronies used to 
get together every night and indulge in a quiet 
game for table stakes. Sorhetimes they lost 
large sums to one another, but they were both 
enormously rich, and at the end of a year the bal- 
ance was generally pretty even. 

One night they started to play soon after sup- 
per — folks dined in the middle of the day in those 
times. The exact date was June 15, 1853, and 
the hour was 8 p. m. 

After they had been playing a couple of hours, 
Morgan, who had just finished dealing, straight- 
ened up in his chair and became rigid. The next 
moment he kicked himself vigorously, because he 



A LIFE-LONG GAME. 



163 



feared he had betrayed to Danielson the fact that 
he had an extraordinary hand. But the Major 
had also caught something wonderful. Each was 
so excited that he didn't notice the perturbation 
of the other. • Both were so nervous that they 
could scarcely speak. 

At last Major Danielson started the ball. He 




Inside of a couple of hours the action became fast and furious. 

bet cautiously at first, and so did Morgan. Then 
the betting became livelier, and inside of a couple 
of hours the action was fast and furious. After 
midnight the bets became larger. Each of the 
players had had about $10,000 on the table when 
the game began. At 2 o'clock in the mornine all 
the chips were stacked up in the centre, but neither 
of the men showed any signs of weariness. 



i64 7ACK POTS. 

At Morgan's suggestion they then made it a 
no-hmit game. Then they began to bet with thou- 
sand-dollar checks, and pretty soon the table 
groaned beneath the weight of wealth, or it would 
have done so if the wealth had been in gold or sil- 
ver. Daylight found them still betting, and the 
players had written their checks for the aggregate 
amounts they had wagered during the night. 
Each of these checks bore five figures. 

Stopping only for meals, Morgan and Danielson 
continued to bet against each other on these won- 
derful hands until nightfall. Then they adjourned 
for six hours sleep, and resumed the play again at 
midnight. They kept it up for the rest of the 
week, and for the remainder of the year. At the 
end of the year each of them had invested his en- 
tire fortune — cash, bonds, stocks, livestock, land, 
houses, everything — in that game. People began 
to fiock to Austin from all parts of the State, and 
from the neighboring principal cities, to see the 
great Morgan-Danielson game. 

The war came along, but the game never 
stopped. Morgan and Danielson were both too 
old to be conscripted, so they stayed home and 
went on with their betting. Finally it became ap- 
parent that neither would ever call the other, so 
the hands were sealed up Separately in tin boxes, 
and the rest of the deck was put in another box. 
The three boxes were deposited in the National 



A LIFE-LONG GAME. 165 

Bank, each bearing the seals of the players and of 
a dozen witnesses. Then Morgan and Danielson 
went on with their betting. 

Both of the old men died in 1872, having been 
playing for twenty-one years, but they left instruc- 
tions in their wills to the effect that their eldest 
sons should carry on the game. The heirs did so 
for five years. Then one of them was killed in a 
railway accident and the other went crazy. 

Their eldest sons, however, are carrying on the 
game in the same old way. Every time either of 
them gets a few hundred dollars together, he goes 
to Austin and raises the other fellow. Both fami- 
lies are as poor as church mice now, and it is all 
they can do to get the necessaries of life, but they 
are game to the core, and so long as either of them 
can earn a cent the world will never learn what sort 
of hands old man Morgan and Major Danielson 
drew on that balmy June evening, more than forty- 
six years ago. The heirs know, but they are sworn 
to secrecy. 

Taking this story to be strictly on the square, it 
is easy to guess that each man held four aces, and, 
as they were not playing straight flushes, each had 
an invincible hand. How they each got four aces 
is another story. Probably some youngster of the 
family rung in a cold deck on the old gentlemen, 
and then, when he saw the mischief he had done, 
was afraid to acknowledge the trick. 



i66 JACK POTS. 

For a straight out, continuous game of poker the 
following instance is probably the best on record. 

Twenty-five years ago there were half a dozen 
men in New Jersey who never failed to play a 
stiff game of poker when they came together. 
They were Oliver Wilson of Barnegat, Silas Dan- 
iels of Philipsburg, Hosea Brockway of Princeton, 
James Howe of Ewing, John Strange of Titusville 
and William Tomlirison of Burlington. All these 
men were rich, and when they were once interested 
in a game of cards they bet with a recklessness 
that always astonished those who happened to be 
looking on. In those days star chamber sessions 
were almost unknown, and the players were as 
likely to get into a red-hot contest with the paste- 
boards in a hotel bar room or the sitting room of 
a tavern as anywhere. 

At that time deer hunting in Atlantic County 
was looked upon as the best sport it was possible 
to find in the state, and in the fall hundreds of 
men went to the pines for the purpose of hunting. 
The headquarters for these hunters was McDon- 
ald's tavern, a barn-like structure in the midst of 
the woods, where sleeping, eating and drinking 
accommodations were furnished at somewhat ex- 
travagant prices. 

Rough as it was, Andy McDonald's tavern was 
patronized liberally by a big gang of free money 
spenders, and during the deer-hunting season the 



A LIFE-LONG GAME. 167 

establishment was the scene every night of drink- 
ing bouts, good natured fistic encounters, rifle 
practice, in which bullets were shot across the bar 
room at a white ring chalked on the wall, and all 
kinds of card games. 

One night Silas Daniels, John Strange, James 
Howe and Hosea Brockway met at the tavern. 
Strange was considered one of the best poker play- 
ers in the State. His nerve was as steady as the 
foundations of the earth, and when he took a 
notion to raise a bet he did it as if he had the 
United States treasury at his back. 

When the crowd was properly keyed up, Andy 
McDonald, who was chief dispenser of liquid joy, 
and who always had an eye out for his own welfare, 
said : 

''Mr. Strange, playin' any cards nowadays?" 

"No," replied Strange, "I ain't had what you 
might call a real lively settin' for a good while." 

"Feel like playing a few^ hands now, Strange?" 
asked Daniels, carelessly. 

"You know me, Daniels," replied Strange. "Fm 
always lookin' for chances of that kind." 

The two men walked over to a table that stood 
on one side of the room. At the table sat James 
Howe and Hosea Brockway engrossed in a game 
of seven-up. 

"Gentlemen," said Strange, "what do you say; 
shall w^e make this game four-handed ?" 



1 68 JACK POTS. 

''Four-handed seven-up?" asked Howe. 

''Not much," said Strange, contemptuously. 
"Poker." 

"Well, I reckon it would be more interesting," 
laughed Howe. "How about you, Brock?" 

"Bring along the chips, Andy," shouted Brock- 
way, joyously^ "and a brand new pack of cards. 
Strange is out for a game to-night, and I guess 
we'd better give it to him." 

The cards and chips were produced, and at nine 
o'clock the four men began what proved to be the 
most remarkable game of poker ever played in the 
State. The news spread rapidly through the tav- 
ern that Daniels, Howe, Strange and Brockway 
had got into a game of poker, and every man went 
to watch it. The players w^ere used to this sort 
of thing, however, and made no objection, unless 
someone made remarks on their manner of play- 
ing; then that man would have to leave the room, 
or something would break. 

The players were feeling their toddies pretty 
keenly, and the game opened with a bet of $i,ooo 
in bank notes made by Daniels. Strange looked 
out of the corner of his eye for a moment, and 
then laid down his cards. Brockway did likewise. 
Howe called the bet and won it on three deuces. 
Daniels'was bluffing; when he laid down his hand 
he had only ace high. 

The pace was now fairly set and the game went 



A LIFE-LONG GAME. 169 

briskly on. On the next deal Daniels had revenge, 
for he got back his $1,000 and $800 besides that 
Strange had risked on a pair of kings. That win- 
ning was doubly satisfactory to Daniels because 
it was off Strange, and it nettled Strange to have 
Daniels crow over him. 

Drinks were had and the game proceeded. A 
jack pot was started and then one of the most 
remarkable features of the game took place. It 
lacked a few minutes of ten o'clock when the jack 
was declared, and although the cards were dealt 
as often as possible, it was two o'clock in the 
morning when openers were caught. 

Brockway was the lucky man. The jack pot was 
then worth about $2,000, and he had a pair of 
aces. He opened it for $1,000 and Daniels stayed. 
Howe and Strange threw down their cards. Brock- 
way drew three cards and caught another ace; 
Daniels held three kings. Brockway slapped up 
$2,000 and Daniels tilted him back a like amount. 
Brockway saw the raise, and, filling out a check 
for $5,000, laid it on the pile of bills in the center 
of the table. 

''Brock," said Daniels, sharply, 'T believe you're 
bluffing. I'm going to see your hand, anyhow. I 
call you." 

Brockway laid down his three aces. Daniels 
crossed his legs, pulled his hat down over his eyes, 
said, 'Tt's yours, old man," and knocked on the 
table for Andy to bring the drinks. 



Z70 JACK POTS. 

That was better than a $10,000 winning for 
Brockway, but he did not let his elation appear. 
It was late, but nobody thought of going to bed. 
Lighting cigars, the players began another hand. 
Howe was lucky man that deal, and he raked in 
about $2,000, to which each player had contrib- 
uted nearly an equal share. Then the game went 
on without any one losing or winning any great 
amount until noon, when it was stopped for awhile 
so that the players could eat. The food was 
brought and spread on the table upon which they 
were playing, and as soon as it was swallowed the 
cards were dealt again. 

At midnight the players took account of 
their chips and money and found that each 
had about the same capital that he began the game 
with. They had worked twenty-seven hours and 
had nothing to show for their labor. 

''This is the funniest game I ever got into," said 
Strange. ''We had a jack pot that it took us four 
hours to open, and now, after all this sweating and 
betting nobody's any better off than they were 
when the game started." 

"Shall we quit?" asked Howe. 

"Quit? No!" cried Strange. "I ain't going to 
leave this table until I've won enough to pay me 
for sitting here." 

"That's the way I feel about it," said Daniels. 

"I propose this," chimed in Brockway. "We'll 



A LIFE-LONG GAME. 171 

play the game until somebody is broke, and if any- 
body falls asleep or quits the game before that 
time, he's got to pay each of the other players 
$1,000." 

''It's a go," said Strange, and the others nodded 
their heads. 

This put a fresh interest into the game, and it 
was played vigorously until noon. Twelve hours 
had been added to the session, which had now 
lasted thirty-nine hours, and still the original cap- 
ital of each player had not been materially les- 
sened. All of the players were sleepy, but none 
of them was disposed to take a $3,000 nap, and 
they fought heroically to keep their eyes open. 

Another twelve-hour lap was begun. By this 
time the news of the big poker game at McDon- 
ald's had reached the surrounding towns and men 
came in from every direction to see it played out. 
There was no railroad at that time running any- 
where near McDonald's tavern, but several enter- 
prising stage drivers ran excursions from the town 
to the tavern, and reaped a rich harvest. 

In the forenoon of the next day Strange struck 
a streak of hard luck. He couldn't get a winning 
hand, and he chipped away until his funds were 
greatly reduced. At last he caught four deuces. 
He bet all he had in sight on the cards, and when 
he was raised he drew a check for $5,000 and threw 
it on the table. 



173 



JACK POTS. 



"I reckon that's a bluff," remarked Daniels. "I 
guess the hand is worth seeing, anyhow." He 
called the bet. 

''I want to see a piece of that myself," said 
Howe, showing up $5,000. 

"Fm in it, too," observed Brockway. 

There was something like $30,000 in the pot, 
and Strange's four deuces were good. The turn 

in his luck woke up 
Strange, and he played 



a slashing game all 
through the day, but 
somehow the capital of 
the players was shifty, 
and would return to 
them. 

At six o'clock 
that night ac- 
counts were 
made up again, 
but there was no 
material change 
in the finances. 
The game had 
been running 
sixty-nine hours, 
and the players hadn't had a wink of sleep. They 
were hardly able to hold up their heads, and 
they drank strong coffee until it failed to have 
effect. 




And in less than a minute every man in the 
game was sleeping. 



A LIFE-LONG GAME. 173 

For another hour the game dragged along in a 
Hstless way, because the senses of the men were 
so dulled by lack of sleep that they hardly real- 
ized what they were doing. Finally, Howe 
dropped his cards, saying, "Fll pay the $3,000, 
boys: Fm willing to give it for a nap." 

His head fell forward on the table, and he was 
instantly in a dead sleep, and in less than a minute 
every man in the game was sleeping like a log. 
They were carried to bed, and were dead to the 
world for twenty straight hours. 

Howe paid the $3,000 and said he did not be- 
grudge a cent of it. He said it was the sweetest 
sleep he ever had in his life. 

As it happened he was just about three thousand 
dollars ahead when he collapsed, and so was no 
loser. The game thus lasted seventy hours, and at 
its close no one player was out more than twenty- 
five dollars. As Strange remarked, one such game 
was enough to last a lifetime. 



CHAPTER XII. 

ABOUT BLUFFING $200,000 ON A PAIR OF TENS A 

BLUFF THAT TURNED INTO A FLUSH MAJOR 

EDWARDS AND THE TENDERFOOT. 

The bluff is half the game of poker — some young 
players think it is the whole thing, until they learn 
from bitter experience. One of the painful epi- 
sodes of a budding poker career is to go out on 
a bold bluff and be called down in an instant, or 
be raised out of his boots, and have to lay down 
ignominiously. After a while a fellow gets hard- 
ened to that sort of thing, at least enough to hide 
his real feelings, because no one enjoys being 
called on a bluff; whereas, the rollicking joy that 
overwhelms his soul when he gets away with the 
bluff is better than two pots w^on in a legitimate 
way. Perhaps the best plan is to follow the exam- 
ple of our German friend Fritz Vonderhannes. 

"Veil, I dell you how it is," said he. 'T dinks de 
way to pluff is to vait undil you gets apout dree 
aces, and den sock it to dem." 

There is no doubt that it does help a bluff to 
have a little something to back it up, although 
there are players who claim that they can do better 
execution when they are absolutely bare. 

A gentleman who is well known in society cir- 

174 



ABOUT BLUFFING. I7S 

cles in New York recently sat in a little game at a 
dinner resort in Twelfth Street, and during the 
evening peddled out about twenty dollars on a half 
dollar limit. 

He had beastly luck, but he was buoyed up by 
the feeling that things would eventually come his 
way, a feeHng that other poker players have felt 
at times; in fact, many times. It was a jack pot, 
and the deal had gone around many times, but 
when the pot was opened he had his usual hand — 
five nothings. Yet he remained, feeling that this 
was his last chance. 

''Five." he said when asked to state the number 
of cards he wanted, and he was accommodated. 
As he picked up the first card he uttered an ex- 
clamation. With the second card he said, ''Great 
Scott !" With the third "Holy Moses !" With the 
fourth silence and likewise when he accumulated 
the lifth. 

It was not his bet, but he shoved in the limit 
at once, and had to withdraw it, because the opener 
wanted a chance. Then he saw the bet and raised 
the limit. The other players looked alarmed. Only 
one stayed and raised, and he only raised a quarter. 
The gentleman of the five-card draw again ven- 
tured the limit, and was astounded and mortified 
to have the compliment returned. 

"I guess," he said weakly, "you can take it.'' 

"The dickens," said the other fellow, in an ag- 



176 JACK POTS. 

grieved tone. ''I thought you had something. I 
have a full house." 

And the gentleman who drew the five cards said, 
with dignity, ''I can bluff on a pair of deuces, but 
when I have nothing I can't." 

Very few people can now recall the notorious 
Sarah Althea Hill-Sharon divorce trial in San 
Francisco. Judge Terry, who was killed by Justice 
Field's bodyguard, Nagle, was Miss Hill's attorney 
in that case, and during the trial endeavored to 
have produced in court in evidence of Senator 
Sharon's maintenance of the plaintiff, the million- 
aire's check stubs. The effort failed, chiefly from 
the showing made by the defendant that the checks 
would throw very little light on the subject. Nine- 
tenths of the private checks drawn by Sharon were 
payable to the order of ''Cash," and neither checks 
nor stubs indicated the age, sex or social condition 
of "Cash." The fact was that nearly all of Sharon's 
private checks were in settlement of poker ac- 
counts. 

Not that Sharon always lost at poker; he nearly 
always won. His total winnings in the Pacific 
Club were said to have been more than a million 
dollars. The play there was tremendously high, 
and there was a regular clearing-house performance 
after each game, each player settling with the oth- 
ers by checks, and it might happen that Sharon 
would draw a half-dozen checks after a game in 
which he was ahead. 

'it 



ABOUT BLUFFING. I77 

He played a great game of poker, both in kind 
and size, but his immense wealth gave him no ad- 
vantage because his antagonists were also multi- 
millionaires, men like Ralston, the capitalist and 
banker. Senators Jones and Stewart of Nevada, 
Flood of the Bonanza firm, and that set of high- 
rollers. 

One of the tales of the Pacific Club is of the 
night when Ralston won $200,000 on a pair of 
tens. Five of the big fish were in the game and 
they were playing jack pots. Sharon opened and 
Ralston and two others stayed. 

There was some light chipping of $100 or 
$200 several times around, when Ralston 
strengthened his play and began raising by thou- 
sands. Sharon and Ralston soon had the play to 
themselves, and it was not long before there was 
$150,000 in the pot. Then Sharon met a raise 
with a $50,000 counter. Ralston studied only a 
moment and then came back with a raise of 
$150,000. Sharon did not take long to decide his 
play. 

*T quit, Bill " he said, and shuffled his cards in 
the deck. 

Ralston was so delighted over having made his 
bold partner lay down that he spread his hand, dis- 
closing a pair of tens. Sharon never told what he 
held in his hand until after Ralston's death. It 
was a pair of jacks. 



178 JACK POTS. 

To go in on a bluff, and get beaten, and then win 
out after all, is a rather unique experience that 
could only hapj)en to a newspaper man, so we will 
let him tell it. 

"I'll never forget," said the Old Reporter to the 
Young Reporter, ''one game of poker that was 
played at police headquarters when the reporters' 
room was a dirty, rickety, shabby hole on the top 
floor. Our great game generally began at 1 1 p. m., 
when the news was getting too late to telegraph 
unless it was very big. It was penny limit up to 
12, then five-cent limit to i a. m., then ten-cent 
limit up to 2, then a quarter hour of jack pots with 
a twenty-cent limit. 

''The usual quiet game continued on this occa- 
sion and at two o'clock I was two dollars out. Dol- 
lars were as big as stove plates to me in those days, 
nor, by the way, have they got over their inflated 
qualities yet. Then the jack pots came my way 
and I enriched myself with a few fat ones. Then 
I got wrecked on a couple of false ones and stood 
a loser once more. 

"There was a slick crowd around that table, six 
being the limit of players. Presently one of the 
boys started a nice jack pot with a boost of twenty 
cents before the cards were drawn. I looked at my 
hand and saw four fat diamonds and a club, al- 
ways a tempter. I should have come in and said 
nothing, but, you know how it is with a flush — 



ABOUT BLUFFING. I79 

there are so many possibilities — I not only stood 
the raise but went twenty cents better. It went 
around that way until the first man hoisted it for 
another limit, and all stayed to me and I was fool 
enough to give it another lift. That scared all out 
but the first man, and he stayed. 

'The cards were dealt. I did not look at mine, 
but when the other fellow raised I gave it a gentle 
boom for twenty coppers more. I was watching 
my antagonist and thought he was putting 
on rather too broad a grin for his conscience, but 
he raised all right. Then I picked up the card that 
had been tossed me, and it was the ace of spades. 

"A bob-tailed flush stared me in the face. I 
was now out about three dollars, and, feeling ner- 
vous, I think I would have presented any man 
w^ith fifty cents who would have been so kind as 
to kick me for getting into the game, but the devil 
took hold of me and I went in for a bluff. Well, 
sir, the other fellow assisted me. 

"My hand for all he knew was good for a flush, 
a full house or four of a kind, but Jim (never mind 
his last name) was a bold player, and I did not 
know what to make of him. He was nervous all 
right, but I began to believe that the nervousness 
was a symptom of a good hand on his part and I 
began to shake a little myself. 

''Under ordinary circumstances I would have 
dropped, but I was reckless by this time, and bor- 



i8o 



JACK POTS. 



rowed a ten from one of the winners. The other 
boys began to get excited, and I think I got a bit 
excited myself as I said to Jim, 'Say, suppose we 
throw aside the Hmit.' 

"He agreed and I planked down the ten. It was 
the first time on record that the limit had been 
lifted and the boys looked worried about it. Jim 
took out a yellow envelope, opened it and laid $15 

on the table, 
just one-half 
his salary. I 
did not mind 
that, for Jim 
had an income 
and was com- 
paratively well 
ofif. 

''I sat there, 
studying that 
bobtail flush 
and thinking 
how I could 
get out of the 
hole I was in. 
Then I did a desperate thing. I took out my 
watch and said I would lay it against forty dollars. 
It was a present from a politician and cost a cool 
two hundred. I put it up as confidently as I could, 
but my hand shook and I knew that Jim saw that 
I was rattled. 




"1 took out my watch and said I would lay it against 

forty dollars. 



ABOUT BLUFFING. i8i 

" 'Old man,' said Jim, 'I know you are bluffini;- 
right through and I hate to take your money. I 
call you and I have three of the prettiest aces in the 
pack.' 

"He laid them down, and a sickly feeling came 
over me as I thought of what I would tell my wife 
that night. Down on the table I threw my hand, 
and I cussed to myself, although I was by no means 
a cursing man. Then Jim gave a gasp and said: 
'Well, I'll be jiggered ! If you had not all the 
symptoms of a bluff, I'll eat my hat !' 

''I was in a fainting condition by this time, and 
only said : 'Don't, get gay. Take the money and let 
me get over the agony?' 

" 'Take the money?' he yelled. 'What in blazes 
do you think you've got?' 

" 'Why, a miserable bobtail, of course.' I re- 
plied. 'Hello! What's this?' 

"I picked up the ace of spades, and saw the word 
joker on it for the first time. It was one of these 
jokers that are fixed up like an exaggerated ace 
of spades, and across the top was marked in pencil 
'deuce of diamonds.' I had an ace high flush! 

"Just before I entered the game it was discov- 
ered that the deuce of diamonds was missing and 
the joker was put in to take its place. I tell you 
I felt mighty mean over that pot, and did not want 
to take it, but Jim would not have a division. 
That's the last game I ever played or will play, and 
I advise you to take warning." 



1 82 TACK POTS. 

The Young Reporter said he would, but he sat 
in a game that night just the same. 

Speaking of bluffs recalls a story that illustrates 
the old adage that there is an exception to every 
rule. It is the rule in poker that friendship ceases 
when the game begins. No matter how much pre- 
liminary chaff and chatter may go on before or dur- 
ing the game, the true player must steel his heart 
to the fact that the fellow on the opposite side of 
the table is his antagonist, and must not be shown 
any mercy. Of course it is all right to give him 
a loan outside, but any signs of leniency toward 
him during the game might well rouse a suspicion 
of collusion. Yet there are times . 

In the '8o's when all Dakota was on the boom, 
the sporting fraternity held high carnival. The 
boom burst, or faded, or settled down into an en- 
during prosperity, whichever way you choose to 
look at it, but it was lively while it lasted. Not 
that everybody made money. Oh, no ! There are 
some men who have an unhappy faculty of always 
arriving too late, or of landing on the back of their 
necks when everybody else is on his feet. Among 
this sort of driftwood was one Harry Charlton, 
from somewhere in the East. 

He had about five thousand dollars when he left 
home, and by all rights he ought to have made a 
heap of money in buying and selling lots, but 
somehow he managed to always get the short end 



ABOUT BLUFFING. 183 

of the bargain. The result was his pile steadily 
diminished, and when he finally drifted into Fargo, 
he was pretty well discouraged. After looking over 
the ground for a week, he concluded that he would 
go into some respectable business, say, a grocery. 

He did not know anything about groceries ex- 
cept in a general way, but he had a thousand dol- 
lars and could get credit for as much more, and 
with an experienced clerk — well, you know how a 
man will persuade himself in such cases. So Charl- 
ton rented a store, paid a month's rent in advance, 
and negotiated for a fine stock of groceries. 

While he was waiting for the men to fix up his 
store, he got acquainted, no difficult matter in 
those days, and among his new friends was Major 
Edwards, the well known newspaper proprietor of 
Fargo, w^ho was known all over the State. Ed- 
wards gave Charlton a pufY for his grocery store, 
and in a few days they became quite chummy. 
This was not to be wondered at since Maje — as 
everybody called him — was the soul of good na- 
ture and Charlton was a bright and educated 
young man, with pleasant ways. 

As may be imagined it did not take Charlton 
long to get into a poker game ; in fact he got into 
one every night. He was just a fair, ordinary 
player, but inclined to recklessness and not an 
adept at hiding his feelings. He would have been 
pie for a professional, and he knew it, but he felt 



1 84 JACK POTS. 

safe in following where Maje led ; a man who would 
not cheat or tolerate any crooked work in others. 

On Monday morning Charlton was to open his 
new store, and on Saturday night he was sitting at 
a round table with four other choice spirits, hav- 
ing a parting seance, because, although he did not 
say so to the others, he had told himself that really 
he ought to settle down into a respectable man of 
business, and leave such frivolities to men who had 
no stake in the country. And while he was about 
it, he enjoyed himself to the utmost. 

The game see-sawed for a couple of hours, and 
then everything went Charlton's w^ay. As the say- 
ing goes, if he drew to a steamboat he could catch 
a river. If he had been a professional he would 
have broken every other man at the table, but it 
was evident that he played more for fun than 
money, and a dozen times he refrained from press- 
ing an advantage where another man would have 
been merciless. As it turned out perhaps it is just 
as well that he acted in such liberal fashion. 

At one o'clock two of the players quit the game 
broke, and that left Charlton with Maje Edwards 
and Stanley Huntley (afterwards so well known as 
''Spoopendyke"), two of the best players in the 
Northwest. This is the place where he should have 
risen and quit also, but he held on. In less than 
a half hour he was sorrv he didn't. 

His luck seemed to have taken wings. It would 



ABOUT BLUFFING. 185 

not have been so bad if he had .drawn poor hands, 
Init he kept picking up threes and flushes and even 
full hands, only to find that he was held over nearly 
every time. The result was that his winnings melted 
like snow in the sun. 

It was a very painful situation and Charlton 
felt a cold chill stealing over him, to be succeeded 
by a feeling of exasperation, the very w^orst thing 
that can happen to a man who wants to win. He 
began to bet recklessly, and try to force his hands 
to win. Edwards and Huntley at first felt amused 
and then pitiful, and each hinted more than once 
at quitting but this only angered the young man. 

Then there came the crisis. It was Edwards' 
deal and Charlton's age. Huntley came in on a 
pair of nines, Edwards had a pair of tens and Charl- 
ton a pair of aces. He raised ten dollars before 
the draw, and Huntley laid down. Edwards stayed, 
and he and Charlton both drew three cards. Maje 
caught another ten, and Charlton did not help his 
hand. Huntley, who was lying back easily in his 
chair, smoking a cigar and watching the fray, said 
afterward that he could read the fact that Charlton 
had failed to help his hand as easily as if the an- 
nouncement had been written on his face. If Ed- 
wards dia not ixaJ it likewise he must have forgot- 
ten his cunning. 

"Chip " -aid Mr.je. 

"Ten rtr!!-..-.' V . -der," said Charlton. 



i86 JACK POTS. 

"Twenty more," retorted Maje, placidly. 

"Charlton came back with twenty more, and Ed- 
wards after contemplating him for a minute out the 
curner of his eye, Ufted the pot a single dollar. 

"I advise you to call," he said, quietly. 

"Not on this hand," said Charlton, with a great 
attempt at steadiness of manner. "I'm going to 
win enough on this hand to stock my new grocery 
store." 

"And if you lose there will not be any grocery 
store," observed Huntley, smilingly. 

Charlton gave a little nervous start but pulled 
himself together very quickly, and going down 
into his clothes, pulled out a wad that represented 
every cent he possessed, as he had paid out very 
little cash on his new venture. He counted off note 
after note until he had a stack before him. 

''Raise you six hundred dollars," he said, boldly. 

"Whew!" whistled Huntley, while Maje Ed- 
wards leaned back in his chair and looked at Charl- 
ton with a twinkle in his eye. 

Charlton felt himself getting sick under that 
piercing gaze. He realized when too late that 
Maje had him sized up, and that he was beaten. 
At the same time it came to him with terrible force 
that his grocery store was going to be knocked 
on the head, or else he must go heavily in debt. 
It would have been a relief to have been able to 
kick himself for his freshness, but he bitterly told 



ABOUT BLUFFING. 



187 



himself that he would have plenty of time for that. 
Just now he had to keep a stifY upper lip, and take 
kis medicine like a man. 

It seemed an interminable time until Edwards 
did anything. He took a fresh cigar from his 
pocket, lit it, took a half dozen pufTs, looked at 
Charlton through the smoke, and then said slowly, 
"When did you say the store will open?" 

"Monday morning," answered Charlton, 

-_ through his teeth, w^ith an 

inward curse at what he re- 
garded as playing with his 
_^_ feelings as a 

cat does with a 
mouse. 

"Hum," said 
Edwards. Then 
he fingered his 
cards again, 
and slowly laid 
them on the 
table. "Well," 
I guess you 
have the bet- 
t e r hand. 
Three tens are 
generally good, but not to-night." 

Then he threw his hand into the deck, arose and 
put on his hat. 




" When did you say the store would open? " 



1 88 JACK POTS. 

''We might as well quit, Eh, Huntley?" he 
said. 

Huntley assented and as they turned to go they 
looked back at Charlton. He had gathered the 
money into his pockets and had his chips in his 
hands ready to have them cashed, and he said noth- 
ing until he and the others went through that nec- 
essary performance in the bar room. 

Then he got between Huntley and Edwards and 
said with a very unsteady voice : 

"I'm a tenderfoot, but I'm not entirely green. I 
know just what you did to me to-night. Before I 
sat down I made a sort of vow that I would not 
play again, and now I'm going to keep it. But 
before I quit, I want to say that I never can ex- 
press my gratitude" 

"Here, here," said Maje, hastily. "I don't know 
what you're talking about. Come along, Huntley. 
Goodnight, Charlton. Let me know when you 
get settled and I'll send a man down to write up 
your place." 



CHAPTER XIII. 
TOM Custer's luck — a girl makes the best draw on 

RECORD HOW A TOWNSITE WAS WON ON TWO 

DEUCES LUCKY BALDWIN'S BIG PLAY 

There is no end to queer luck tales in poker an- 
nals, which is not to be wondered at since poker 
is made up so largely of luck. The saying: 'Tt's 
all in the draw/' has passed into a proverb, al- 
though it isn't exactly true, yet it is true enough 
to tempt many a player to his ruin. Careful tables 
have been prepared showing what the chances are 
of catching certain fillers to pairs, two pairs, flushes 
and so forth, and we are assured that the player 
who studies these chances and plays accordingly, 
w^ill win more than the fellows who play without 
any rule, and just come in because they feel like 
it. That may all be true, although I do not think 
the system has ever been tested, and everybody 
knows thiat the system player in faro is generally 
standing around the table looking at the other 
players and wishing some one would stake him. 
To put it in effect would be to eliminate all those 
delightful slices of luck that drag a man into the 
game when he has only a pair of deuces and he 
knows to a moral certainty that the other fellow 
has at least two pairs. 

189 



I90 JACK POTS. 

Captain Tom Custer, who, with his famous 
brother General Custer, was slaughtered on the 
Little Big Horn, was a dashing poker player. He 
played without any apparent style or reason, some- 
times coming in on the most ridiculous hands — 
such as a nine and ten, or standing a raise on three 
cards of a suit, in hope of catching two more to 
make a flush — and he made them win often enough 
to cause remark. He used to make the remark, 
half true, that he would a little rather start out 
with nothing in his hand, because then he had a 
better chance in the draw. 

The Seventh Cavalry was a great poker playing 
organization, from the general down to the pri- 
vate, and Captain Tom didn't miss many games, 
when he was off duty. He did not win all the time 
but the other players always knew he was in the 
game. 

One night a party of four were playing, and 
Custer had been playing his usual reckless game. 
Finally it came to a hand where there was consid- 
erable at stake, Custer having raised two or three 
times with nothing in his hand. When it came to 
the draw he skinned his hand and found nothing 
better than the six, seven and ten of spades, the 
four of clubs and the jack of diamonds. He threw 
away the club and diamond and asked for two 
cards. 

It is the rule in poker that on the original deal 



TOM CUSTER'S LUCK. 



191 



if a card is faced the receiver must take it, ])ut in 
the draw if a card is faced he cannot take it, but 
must receive another in its stead. He picked up 
the cards as they were dealt to him, and the first 
was the eight of clubs. As he reached out for the 
next card it struck his hand in such a way as to 
turn it over, and there lay the king of Spades ! 

Custer ripped out an oath, he was so exasperated 
at his bad luck, and of course gave away his hand 
in so doing. He got a roar of laughter in return, 
as another card 
was dealt him, 
which he received 
in sulky silence. 

Then the bet- 
ting began and 
when it came 
around to Custer 
he raised every- 
body. Of course 
he was chased 
up, but he kept 
coming until the 
others were 
forced to call 

, . -r-« 1 Each was confident that Custer was bluffing. 

him. liach man 

had a stiff hand and each was confident that Custer 

was bluf^ng, out of sheer rage. 

The instant he was called his expression of 




192 JACK POTS. 

gloom changed to a grim smile, and he laid his 
cards on the table face upward. They were the 
six, seven, eight, nine and ten of spades. After 
losing the king by mischance, he had actually 
caught the nine, giving him a straight flush ! 

That game ended right there, it being conceded 
that the devil himself could not beat that luck. 

This, however, isn't a marker to the story of a 
girl's luck in the draw. 

It was a rather long voyage from Rio Janeiro to 
New York on the old Brazilian Line, and there 
were only nine passengers in the first cabin on the 
occasion when this wonderful game occurred. 
Among them was a pale, delicate and very nervous 
young man who was accompanied by his sister, and 
a solid, phlegmatic individual of about fifty years 
of age. 

About five days before the ship reached home, 
these two men got to playing freeze out in the 
smoking room. The game started with dollar 
stacks, just to pass away the time, as so many 
games start, but as the nervous man lost steadily 
he wanted a chance to get even, and they decided 
on a ten dollar limit. 

Now everybody knows that a lot of money can 
go across the table in a ten dollar limit game if the 
cards keep running the same way, and if ever a 
man had a run of hard luck it was the pale, deli- 
cate chap. No matter what he held the solid man 



TOM CUSTER'S LUCK. 193 

beat him by a spot or two, and the worst of it 
was that the hands were always too good to lay 
down without a struggle. He had a queen full 
beaten by four fives, and a king high flush of 
spades by an ace high flush of diamonds. It did 
not seem natural that bad luck should run one way 
so persistently in a perfectly square game, but it 
did, and the game was square beyond the shadow 
of a doubt. 

The last night out from New York the young 
man was out $1,000, and there came the crisis, as 
it is bound to come in every game. And, as in so 
many other cases, it was a jack pot that started 
the ruction. This one started at five dollars and 
crept up and up with each deal, until all the chips 
were in the middle of the table, and still neither 
the nervous young man nor his stolid opponent 
could get openers. 

Everyone of the cabin passengers was inside 
watching the game, but not one knew just what a 
state of anxiety that nervous young man was in 
except his sister, and she was about as much 
wrought up as he was. She would have been more 
so if she had known that the roll of bills that he 
now pulled from his pocket contained all the 
money he had in the world. The stolid man also 
produced a wallet from his pocket and laid it in 
front of him. 

They kept dealing and passing for fully twenty 



194 JACK POTS. 

minutes, while every one was breathing hard and 
staring at the cards as if the fortunes of empire de- 
pended on the deal. The stolid man, however, was 
as cool as the conventional cucumber, and seemed 
to be perfectly indifferent as to what became of the 
mass of money in front of him. Finally the young 
man rose from the table on his opponent's deal. 

''I have heard that there's luck in a new player," 
he said. ''If you've no objection, deal this hand to 
my sister." 

''Certainly," assented the stolid man; and the 
girl, her face flushed with excitement, took her 
brother's seat. 

The stolid man dealt the cards and the girl, in 
the mincing way peculiar to women in parlor 
games, picked up each card in succession, and held 
them so that her brother, who stood directly be- 
hind her chair, and everybody else near by could 
distinctly see them. The first card was an ace, the 
second an ace, the third was a queen, the fourth 
an ace, and the fifth was an ace. Four aces and a 
queen and a thousand dollars in the pot ! 

"Open it," whispered her brother, "and play it 
for all the money." 

She opened the pot for ten dollars and the stolid 
individual promptly raised her ten. He was raised 
in return, and the nervous man suggested that the 
limit be taken off. The proposition was accepted, 
and in an incredibly short time all the young man's 



TOM CUSTER'S LUCK. 195 

money, amounting to about a thousand dollars, 
was in the center of the table, together with an 
equal amount of his opponent's cash. 

''Cards, if any?" politely asked the dealer. 

The young lady, throwing her four aces exposed 
on the table, answered ''Four," and quick as a 
flash, four cards off the top of the pack, lay in front 
of her. 

No one who witnessed the scene will ever forget 
it. The young man only said "Oh !" but it was like 
reading a death warrant. Then, pale and tremb- 
ling, he staggered to the door and went out on the 
deck, and it is a mercy he did not throw himself 
overboard. 

Of course the girl had to take the four cards 
dealt her. She explained her apparent streak of 
idiocy by saying that in her excitement she had 
got the game mixed with old maid, and as the aces 
matched of course she had to discard them. This 
left her with the queen, and she seemed to feel 
dreadfully for a moment that she would be an old 
maid. When she had finished explaining, and 
looked around and saw the expression on the spec- 
tators' faces, she for the first time realized what she 
had done. 

All the money was up by this time, and it was a 
show down, so the girl picked up the four cards 
that had been dealt her, and slowly turned them 
over. 



196 



JACK POTS. 



There were three more queens among them! 
The stolid man held a small full and politely passed 
the money over to her. Then she went on the deck 

to find her 
brother, and he 
acted Uke a 
man saved 
from the gal- 
lows when she 
passed the 
money over to 
him. That was 
probably the 
luckiest draw 
on record. 

In pretty 
nearly all these 
stories of big 
luck the hands 
chronicled are 
also big. As a 
rule, it is four 
aces or a 
straight flush 
that takes the 
pot ; anything 
story. Now, as 
stakes are very 




Pale and trembling he staggered to the door and 
went out on the deck. 



less would seem to spoil 
a matter of fact, the 
rarely won on big hands 



the 



biggest 



Of course, a real big 



TOM CUSTER'S LUCK. 197 

hand, like fours of anything will generally get the 
pot, but there is more than likely to be nothing 
out against it except a pair or two, and the fours 
win no more than three little ones would have 
done. Then again it has happened very frequently 
that large pots have been raked in on very small 
hands. 

Back in the '50's, when the northern portion of 
the Territory of Dakota was hardly more than a 
bleak waste of uncultivated ground, the town of 
Pembina was founded by Enos Stutsman, a man 
as remarkable for his eccentricities as he was for 
his physical deformity. He emigrated to Dakota 
from the huckleberry districts of Connecticut and 
located in the upper Red River Valley, where he 
filed and proved up on 320 acres of land, which was 
the ground on which Pembina now stands. 

Stutsman had the head and body of a giant, but 
his legs were hardly more than a foot long, and he 
was unable to travel without the aid of two short 
and powerful crutches. He was a shrewd, calcu- 
lating fellow and soon became a recognized leader 
among the handful of emigrants who had taken up 
their claims in his neighborhood. As a political 
diplomat he never had his equal in the territory, 
and for four consecutive sessions he was chairman 
of the council in the upper branch of the territorial 
legislature. He was also one of the most famous 
draw poker players in the territory. 



198 JACK POTS. 

Among Stutsman's close friends he numbered a 
pioneer named Judd La Moure, who owned a Hue 
of stage coaches running between Grand Forks 
and Pembina. The advent of the railroads killed 
Judd's coach line finally, and he settled down into 
a profitable grocery business in Pembina. 

It was these two men who played one of the 
stiffest games of poker that was ever played in the 
Territory. The combat came off in the old Levee 
Hotel in Yankton in 1862, and it lasted from 10 
o'clock on "Friday morning to 3 o'clock on Sunday 
morning. During its progress the people of the 
town assembled in the hotel and watched the two 
men as they fought with the tenacity of bulldogs 
over the pile of red, white and blue chips. The 
legislature was in session at the time, and as Stuts- 
man, who was chairman of the Council, refused to 
leave the game, that branch of the legislature ad- 
journed until the following Monday, and the mem- 
bers watched the game to the finish. 

Early in the game Stutsman's luck was wonder- 
fully good and he played with a recklessness that 
surprised everyone. Later on, the tide turned 
against him, and the chips began to flow in the di-' 
rection of La Moure, who sat with his slouched hat 
pulled over his eyes watching every move of his 
opponent. Slowly but surely Stutsman's chips 
went over to La Moure's side of the table, and 
work what trick or artifice he would, he could not 
turn them back. 



TOM CUSTER'S LUCK. 199 

Matters went this way until past midnight on 
Saturday, when Stutsman threw two $500 bills on 
the pile of chips in the center of the table and 
called a $1,000 bet made by La Moure. Stutsman 
held a king full on queens, and he felt pretty sure 
that the pot was his, but when La Moure threw 
down his cards there were four deuces. 

At this display, Stutsman fairly gritted his teeth 
and exclaimed : 

'Tm getting tired of this infernal run of luck. 
Judd, I tell you what I'll do. You've won $3,800 
of my money. If you put up $3,800 more with it 
I'll stake the town site of Pembina against you, and 
will play for it in a lump to win or lose at one 
deal." 

Judd accepted the proposition at once, and the 
two men shook hands to ratify the agreement. The 
news spread rapidly, and the crowd around the 
table increased to suffocation. After some more 
talk it was agreed that the hand should be dealt 
by E. A. Williams, of Bismarck, the speaker of the 
House of Representatives. The cards were to be 
dealt face up. When the five cards had been dealt 
each man was to discard and draw, the cards be- 
ing thrown face up by the dealer as before, and 
when the hands had been dealt, the highest hand 
was to take the pot. 

Excitement ran high as the deal began. To 
prevent trickery, although no one had any sus- 



200 



JACK POTS. 



picion of foul play, Williams was seated in the cen- 
ter of the table with his legs turned under him like 
a Turk, in the full glare of the oil lamp that hung 
suspended from the ceiling. The friends of the 
two players crowded around the table and Wil- 
liams was threatened with summary vengeance if 
he should in any manner manipulate the cards so 
as to give either man an advantage. 

Deftly Williams shufifled the cards and squaring 

them slipped 
one from the 
top of the pack 
and laid it 
under La 
Moure's nose. 
It was a deuce 
of clubs. Stuts- 
man caught 
the queen of 
spades. The 
next card 
came off and Judd got an- 
other deuce. The four spot 
of spades turned up under 
Stutsman's nose and his brow 
wrinkled a little. Again the 
cards fell and Judd placed the ace of diamonds be- 
side his two deuces while the jack of spades looked 
up into Stutsman's face. Once more the dealer laid 




The game was over. 
Judd had won. 



TOM CUSTER'S LUCK. 201 

down the cards and Judd claimed the queen of 
clubs while his opponent caught the ace of spades. 
Stutsman's face began to brighten. He saw the 
possibility of making a flush but the next card to 
him was a heart. However Judd had not bettered 
his hand and had to draw three cards to his two 
deuces. 

Stutsman's friends tried to persuade him to draw 
four cards to the ace but he wouldn't listen to 
them, and discarding the heart, he drew one card, 
hoping to fill the flush. The onlookers were wild 
when Williams threw three cards to Judd. They 
fell face up — the queen of clubs, jack of diamonds 
and ten spot of clubs. He had not bettered his 
hand, and his opponent smiled grimly as he saw 
how severely fortune must snub him now if she 
failed to bring him a winning hand ; for if he paired 
any of the four cards he held he must beat Judd's 
hand; besides, there was a possibility of his filling 
the flush. Judd, on his part, had evidently lost 
hope. He rested his arms on the table and dog- 
gedly watched Williams as he turned to Stutsman 
and slipped a card from the pack. All stretched 
their necks to catch sight of the card. It was the 
eight of clubs. 

The game w^as over. Judd had won, and as he 
shoved his hand over the table to Stutsman the 
latter grasped it and shook it as if he had forgotten 
that it had played havoc with his fortunes. He 



203 JACK POTS. 

kept his word and deeded the 320 acres of land 
to La Moure. 

La Moure sold a large portion of the land, and 
realized many thousands of dollars, especially when 
the railroads gave Pembina a boomi Stutsman died, 
in 1880, and was buried in the cemetery on the 
hillside half a mile north of Pembina. The only 
monument to his memory is the County of Stuts- 
man. 

A story of luck at poker would not be complete 
without some reference to Lucky Baldwin of the 
Pacific Slope, although, from all accounts, such 
happenings must have been ordinary occurrences 
to him. 

Banker Ralston sat in this game, and the betting 
before the draw had been very heavy. All fell out 
but the banker and Baldwin. The latter had three 
queens, and, with that peculiar "hunch" which he 
seemed to possess, he sized his opponent up for 
three aces. Now, even with two aces it would be 
a difBcult matter to bluff Ralston out of a pot 
and with three aces it would be impossible. He 
must outdraw him or else lay down. 

Ralston drew two cards — he had three aces, as 
Baldwin had guessed — and Baldwin hesitated 
whether he should take one or two cards. Finally, 
he held up a king to his three queens, and drew 
one card. He skinned the cards in an anxiety he 
had never felt before and to his great joy beheld 



TOM CUSTER'S LUCK. 203 

the smiling face of another queen. He said after- 
wards that a woman's face had never looked so 
sweet before. 

There was $22,000 in the pot. Ralston had 
drawn a pair of jacks, making an ace full, and his 
face betrayed his luck. Baldwin meditated, hesi- 
tated, coughed, and squeezed his cards from time 
to time. It was a critical moment. He knew he 
had the banker beaten ; the only question was how 
to play the cards to produce the most revenue. 

It was Ralston's first bet. He thought a mo- 
ment and then bet a single chip, which in this case 
meant $10. Baldwin immediately bet $30,000. 
Ralston eyed him in surprise, and started to raise 
the bet as much more, and then something caused 
him to pause. He fingered his cards for quite a 
while, and then called the bet. 

Baldwin displayed his cards and raked in the 
pot. As he did so he remarked : ''That was one 
of the luckiest draws I ever made, and one of the 
poorest plays. If I had raised you about a thou- 
sand dollars you w^ould have come back at me with 
about thirty thousand, and then I could have given 
you a lift that you would have had to call." 

''Yes, that is so," responded Ralston, dryly. "I 
am very glad you did not think of it." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SIX CARDS IN ONE HAND TWO GAMES WHEREIN SIX 

CARDS FIGURED WHAT BECAME OF THE 

EXTRA ONE. 

It is interesting to note the various ways in 
which players pick up the cards that are dealt 
them. One man will take them up one by one as 
they come, another will take them by twos or 
threes, and another will not take up the cards until 
all have been dealt. Then he will make a "book" 
out of the five cards, and squeeze the corners down 
apart carefully, evidently enjoying the prospect as 
it unfolds. To a man who is set in his ways in this 
respect, it is regarded as rank bad luck to depart 
from it. There is, however, a reason why the cards 
should be picked up in a certain way, and the pref- 
erable way is one by one. The reason is that it 
avoids the possibility of receiving too few or too 
many cards in a deal and of being ruled out on 
that account. One of the most painful incidents 
of the game is to get started in the betting and then 
discover that you have six cards. Before the draw 
it might be possible to get rid of the extra card, 
but after the draw it is only possible to lay down 
like a little man. 

A Chicago drummer tells an interesting tale of 

204 



SIX CARDS IN ONE HAND. 205 

how six cards nearly brought him to grief, and it 
may serve as a moral warning to careless players. 

"1 was doing Wisconsin and Alichigan for a 
hardware firm, and having a little fun on the way. 
By that I mean that I managed to put m a night 
here and there at the great American game. After 
a man has been on the road two or three years, cov~ 
ering the same territory, if he is any sort of a 
congenial fellow, he is bound to make the acquain- 
tance of a half dozen good chaps in every town of 
importance, and they will make it pleasant for him 
on the occasions when he has to take the train at 
somewhere between one and three a. m. and it 
doesn't pay to go to bed. 

*'0n one of these occasions I was in the upper 
peninsula. I had done the town, whose name T 
won't mention, because I don't want to cause any 
hard feelings, and I found myself with three hours 
on my hands, that there was no use wasting in 
sleep. 

'The night clerk, who had to stay up anyway, 
was one of the party, and early in the evening he 
agreed to round up three other young sports with 
whom I had several tilts on previous trips, but as 
luck would have it, there was a sleighing party 
on the boards, and the young bloods were booked 
for an outing with three of the prettiest girls in 
town, and I couldn't blame them when they sent 
word that they'd .see me blowed first. Of course 



2o6 JACK POTS. 

it wasn't any killing matter but I showed my dis- 
appointnfent, so the clerk suggested that he sound 
some of the transients, and thus make up a party. 

"I assented, and along about ten o'clock the 
clerk and I were sitting down in a small room off 
the office in company with Mr. Close of Saginaw 
and Mr. Wilson of Duluth. These two gentlemen 
were probably traveling in Michigan in midwinter 
for their health — at least I never heard what was 
their business, and the clerk was no wiser — and 
were willing to devote a few hours to shuffling the 
papers, although they had to confess that it had 
been so long since they touched a card, that really, 
etc. 

'T had heard that kind of talk before, and it al- 
ways gave me a pain. It either means that the 
man is a fellow who doesn't know the first thing 
about poker, or else he is a clumsy sharper trying 
to throw one off his guard. Mr. Wilson and Mr. 
Close looked like a couple of tough lumbermen, 
just come into a fortune, coarse in appearance and 
speech, and I took an instinctive dislike to both. 
But I was in for it, and I couldn't very well de- 
cline to play with them after in a measure inviting 
them to meet me, so I drew up my chair with a 
cordial air, and we fell to. 

"The clerk was a slow and careful player, who 
did not bluff, or get excited, or do anything but 
chip along until he got threes or better, and then 



SIX CARDS IN ONE HAND. 207 

play himself even for what he had anted away. He 
never got any particular fun out of the game, and, 
in fact, he never played except to make up the 
game as on occasions like the one I am describing. 
Wilson and Close, I soon found, played a very stiff 
game, with plenty of bluffing, and yet changed 
their style so often that I soon realized that I was 
up against som.ething more than ordinary. 

*'I wasn't kicking against their skill, because I've 
conceit enough to think that I can hold my own in 
fast company, and I had just about began to admit 
to myself that I was having a pleasant time when it 
dawned upon me that these two men were sharpers, 
and would fleece me if they could. I don't know 
what opened my eyes, but it came on me like a 
flash. They were not experts by any means, I 
made up my mind, but they would bear close 
watching. 

''And watch them I did, and without much at- 
tempt at concealment, so that I felt certain that 
they could not ring in a cold deck on me, or 
slip a card. But you know it is a big strain to 
keep up that sort of thing for hours, and I was 
mighty glad to think that I didn't have to make a 
whole night of it. 

''Well, the game went on without the sharpers 
getting in any of their fine work so far as I could 
see, until it came half past twelve, and then I 
suddenly announced that I could play only one 



2o8 JACK POTS. 

more round, as I had to take the 1 105 a. m. I 
saw them exchange a quick glance, and I won- 
dered what they would try on. As it happened 
they caught me on a trick that was brand new to 
me. 

"It was Wilson's deal, and I got two kings. The 
cards may have been stacked, but the deal looked 
fair enough. The clerk threw up his hand accord- 
ing to his usual custom, and Close stayed and 
raised before the draw. Wilson came back at him, 
and as I was between them the}' led me a dance 
for a few minutes. Then I was allowed to draw 
cards, and I asked for three. 

'T watched Wilson closely, and felt certain that 
he took the cards off the top of the pack. He 
took them off in a bunch, and I received them 
in the same way, and placed them at the back of 
my two kings. I saw that Close got three and 
that Wilson took the same number himself, and 
then I waited to see what was going to happen, as 
I felt certain that something would happen. 

*Tt was my age, and Close had the first say. He 
bet ten dollars. Wilson raised him ten. I pinched 
down my cards until I saw another king and then 
I lifted it twenty. Close promptly raised a hun- 
dred dollars, and Wilson laid down, with a poorly 
pretended oath of disappointment. It was up to 
me, and I knew that the dark secret was about to 
be revealed. And so it was! 



SIX CARDS IN ONE HAND. 209 

"I peeled down my cards still further and dis- 
closed to my delighted eyes a fourth king. 
Merely to give myself time to think I looked at the 
fifth card and saw an ace. That made me as solid 
as a rock as we were not playing straight flushes. 
I began to wonder why fortune was so kind to 
me, when suddenly I made an alarming discovery. 
I had another card ! Wilson had given me four 
cards instead of three, and the way I took them 
I had not noticed the extra card. 

''I could have kicked myself for my carelessness, 
and I had no doubt it was premeditated on Wil- 
son's part. I hadn't more than thirty-five dollars 
in the pot, and I might have thrown up my cards, 
but it riled me to think that I had watched these 
fellows so successfully so long, and then to let 
them get away with me. 

"It didn't take more than five seconds to think 
all that and then I came to a sudden resolution. 
I would meet trickery with trickery. I fingered 
my cards until I got the ace between my thumb 
and finger, and then while asking "How much?" 
I dropped the ace on my knee. Then I saw Close's 
raise and tilted it ten more. He promptly came 
back with another hundred. 

"Then I began to feel sorry for myself. The 
ace laid on my knee in plain sight, and how to 
ret rid of it I couldn't imasfine. The men knew 
I had a sixth card, and would be sure to look for 



2IO JACK POTS. 

it when it was missed. And here I was a hundred 
dollars deeper in the hole. And time was flying. 

''It was a cold night, but it was warm enough in 
the room, because it was heated by a large box 
stove that burned wood, and the room was small. 
A few moments before the clerk had opened the 
stove door to reduce the heat somew^hat, and I 
was so close to it that my foot almost touched it. 
I looked down again and saw that the ace had 
slipped down my leg and was resting on the tip 
of my boot. 

"I never was a sleight of hand performer, but I 
did a very neat trick just then. Without turning 
my head, although I could see the card out of 
the corner of my eye, I tossed that card directly 
in the fire box, and then, without a tremor, I 
looked Close in the eye, and said : 

" Tve got you beat bad, but I have to catch a 
train as I told you, and besides this is only a 
friendly game, and I don't want to leave any hard 
feelings behind. So I'll just call that bet. What 
have you got?' 

" Three tens and a pair of eights,' he replied, 
as he laid his hand face upward on the table. 

" 'Four kings,' I said, briefly, and I exposed my 
cards. 

"As I expected Close was on his feet in an in- 
stant, with Wilson by his side. I pretended to not 
:ee their excitement, and began to rake in the 



SIX CARDS IN ONE HAND. 



21 I 



winnings. Fortunately I had the clerk on my side, 
and he was a big husky fellow, equal to three ordi- 
nary men. 

'' 'I think,' said Close, 'that you have a foul 
hand.' He turned over the cards, and, of course, 
found only five. It was amusing to see the look he 
turned on his partner, and the embarrassment of 
that worthy. 

'Then Close walked around to my side of the 

table and looked on 

the floor. Of course 

no card was visible, 

because the ashes of 
the ace were 

smouldering in 

the stove. He 

gave another 

withering look 

at Wilson, but 

what could Wilson do? He 

couldn't say that he had given 

me six cards, for that would 

reveal his perfidy. And there 

was the clerk, who wouldn't stand in for any foul 

play. 

"I tell you I enjoyed the situation to the utmost. 

The two men walked around and muttered and 

growled, while I tucked away the good money, 

and the clerk cashed my chips, and then I turned 




I pretended not to see the 

excitement and began to 

rake in the winnings. 



2 12 JACK POTb. 

to go. But I could not refrain from a parting 
shot. 

" 'Dorsey,' I said to the clerk, 'you should al- 
ways see that the cards you furnish are straight. 
I have noticed several times to-night that the cards 
stuck together, and I was afraid that I might get 
too many cards in the draw\ You ought to see 
to that.' 

*'Then I passed out to catch my train, several 
hundred dollars richer, and with the calm con- 
sciousness of a duty well performed. When I got 
back to that town on my next trip, the clerk told 
me that the two men had a monkey and a parrot 
time over the afTair, each accusing the other of be- 
traying him. The clerk, who had not the least 
idea what it was all about, listened in amazement, 
and of course could not give them any satisfaction. 
But when I told him what had really happened he 
expressed keen regret that he had not known it in 
time to help them out of the hotel on the toe of 
his boot." 

Another story about six cards dates back to the 
early and halcyon days of Colorado, Nevada and 
California, when everybody w^as either prospecting 
for gold or speculating in real estate. Money was 
very plentiful, and much of it was spent with an 
abandon that would have done credit to the Count 
of Monte Cristo. Pretty nearly everyone gam- 
bled more or less and poker was the favorite game 



SIX CARDS IN ONE HAND. 213 

from Ah Sin up to the bonanza kings. One of the 
best business blocks in Denver is or was owned 
by a man who laid the foundation of a big fortune 
with money won at cards, and many of the high 
rollers who have taken a hand in the games where 
he held cards have quit sadder but wiser by reason 
of their experience. 

Even when Denver was but a small place it was 
the rendezvous for many skilled players. There 
was a banker living in Denver at that time, of the 
name of Cook, who had an abundance of cash, and 
who was a famous poker player. 

He was also a rare good fellow, noted -for his 
liberality. Jerome B. Chafifee, at one time United 
States Senator from Colorado, with two or three 
others who used to play with Cook a great, deal, 
one night concocted a little scheme by which they 
figured they could have a great deal of fun at 
Cook's expense, and at the same time get a cham- 
pagne supper out of him. 

So ChafTee and his companions, who had plenty 
of money, and who had been caught in a good 
many jack pots that Cook had opened — and won — 
arranged among themselves that the very next 
time they played with Cook they would show him 
a trick he would not forget in a hurry. The scheme 
was to open a pot and if Cook stayed to deal him 
enough cards to make six in all and if he stayed 
on a pair he was to get four aces. Then, when 



214 JACK POTS. 

the pot had reached a goodly size, to call him, 
make him show his six cards, have the laugh at his 
expense, and after giving him back his share of 
the money in the pot, make him set up the cham- 
pagne. It generally made Cook very mad to lose 
a pot of any considerable size, and they knew that 
if they made this pot a very large one his wrath 
would be very amusing to witness. 

The day at last arrived, when they were all to- 
gether in Cook's office, and Chaffee suggested a 
game of poker to while away the afternoon, which 
w^as a stormy one. Cook assented, little dreaming 
of the good time which was to be had at his e5c- 
pense. 

The cards were dealt and the game went on for 
nearly an hour. before the trap was sprung. Chaf- 
fee opened a jack pot on three kings. Cook stayed 
on a pair of jacks and called for three cards. He 
got four aces. It dawned upon him that some- 
thing was up, but he did not quite grasp the situ- 
ation, and w^hen he did he was in pretty deep. 

Chaffee had drawn two cards, and he bet the 
limit. Cook raised him. The others stayed for 
three or four rounds just to swell the pot, and then 
Cook and Chaffee had it back and forth. The bet- 
ting continued until there was an even ten thou- 
sand dollars in the pot, when Chaffee called Cook 
and made him show down his cards. 

Cook threw four aces and a jack on the table and 



SIX CARDS IN ONE HAND. 215 

Started to rake in the pot. The man who had 
dealt objected, stating that he saw Cook with six 
cards in his hand. The others added that they also 
saw Cook with six cards. 

"Prove it, then," cried Cook. 'T did not deal ; 
you dealt, and if you gave me six cards, where are 
they?" 

Chaffee and his companions at once inaugurated 
the most rigid search for the missing jack. They 
looked under tables, in drawers — everywhere a 
card could possibly get. They made Cook dis- 
robe which he did without objection, and subjected 
• him to the most careful examination, but the card 
could not be found. 

This was a stunner. Cook had not moved dur- 
ing the game, and they were sure of the six cards, 
but where was the other jack? At all events it 
was not to be found, and Cook asserted he had 
but five cards, and expressed the greatest in- 
dignation at their doubts. He also held on to the 
money like grim death. 

To say the w^ould-be jokers were crestfallen 
would be putting it mildly. It was not so funny 
as they had figured out in advance, and for a week 
they vented their feelings by alternately laughing 
and swearing at the way Cook had turned the 
tables on them. To add to the aggravation, every 
time Cook met them he put on an injured air, as 
if he could hardly bring himself to forgive them 
for suspecting him of anything wrong. 



2i6 JACK POTS. 

Cook, as he used to relate afterward with great 
glee, got the six cards all right, but under cover 
of taking a chew of fine cut tobacco, of which he 
was very fond, got the extra jack in his mouth, 
chewed it to a pulp and swallowed it, tobacco and 
all. He said he guessed he could risk swallowing 
a chew of tobacco and a little pasteboard for ten 
thousand dollars, even if it did make him a little 
sick. At any rate, he thought the other fellows 
were a great deal sicker than he was. 



CHAPTER XV. 

POKER IN THE CENTENNIAL STATE BIG BETTING ON 

SMALL HANDS HOW THREE KLONDIKERS 

PLAYED CARDS. 

There are plenty "of stories about the man who 
held four kings and the man who came back at 
him with four aces, and kings and aces are the 
leading features of the poker-story teller's reper- 
toire. It seems to be assumed that the average 
player will not bet his hand unless he has at least 
a full house. This w^ill make an old poker player 
laugh. He knows that the toughest struggles are 
frequently over hands that do not arrive at the 
dignity of threes. It happens very often that an 
entire evening will pass without the appearance 
of fours, and if players waited for these big hands 
before they bet, the game would be a pretty dull 
affair. The fact is that there seems to be spells 
when the cards run high for a night, and then tht 
next night they run low, but the playing runs 
about the same, because when the players find that 
small hands are winning pots they begin to bluff on 
pairs or nothing at all. 

A Colorado expert sizes up the situation w-hen 
he says that there is more genuine deviltry in two 
pairs than in aces out of two packs. And there 

217 



2i8 JACK 10'! S. 

has been a mighty lot of poker playing in Colo- 
rado, and some good poker hands, but very few 
of the phenomenal sort have gone on record, 
whereas two pair or less have created consterna- 
tion at times. 

Poker is, and always has been exceedingly pop- 
ular in the Centennial State. Perhaps faro is a lit- 
tle ahead, because miners are always dead set on 
faro, as it gives them such quick action, but then 
you can't play faro without a layout and consid- 
erable flummery, whereas you can play poker any- 
where at anv time. 

The amount of stakes has cut a greater figure in 
poker games in Colorado than the hands held, and 
there are instances to prove this, ranging all the 
way from the man who bet his sleeve buttons to 
the magnate who put up his mine. 

On the southwest corner of Blake and Sixteenth 
Street, in Denver, some years ago there stood — 
and may stand now — a two-story brick business 
block, bearing some evidence of the flight .of time, 
yet still sound and solid, and capable of use for 
years. In 1870 part of the ground floor of this 
building was used by the First National Bank, and 
another part by Wolfe Londoner as a grocery 
store. Overhead were offices, and in one of these 
offices there occurred one evening in April a re- 
markable poker game. 

The owner of the building sat in this game, and 



POKER IN THE CENTENNIAL STATE. 219 

Opposite him was a then prominent Denver man. 
Both were prominent in fact since the owner held 
a high executive office in the Territory at that time. 
There were five in the game originally, but some- 
how they dwindled down to two. At 1 1 130 at 
night a large amount of money had changed hands, 
and things were going bad for the owner of the 
building. There was no limit, and his opponent 
had been putting the gafY to him in lively fashion. 

Already there were four bank checks up, but the 
owner of the block would not be downed by hard 
luck, and felt confident that fortune would come 
his way. 

He wanted to know if his building wasn't worth 
$50,000 and was informed that it was. There- 
upon he mnde a written agreement to sign it over, 
and the game went on. Within two hours he lost 
the block, and he transferred it the next day. It 
is said that the only recovery he made from the 
person who won it was at another sitting a week 
later, when he came out $25,000 ahead. None of 
the hands held in this memorable game are on rec- 
ord now, but it is known that not one was re- 
markable. 

This game is paralleled by one that comes from 
Leadville and credited with having been played 
there in the winter of 1882. The set-to took place 
in the Clarendon Hotel, and was participated in by 
two gentlemen who are still residents of Colorado, 



220 JACK POTS. 

and are both wealthy. At that time they had not 
much money but they had large prospects, and 
among other things there 'was a mine in whicli 
each had an equal share. The money w^as not 
much, at least not much in comparison with what 
they afterward possessed, but it w^as enough to 
make the game exciting. 

And it was exciting. Hands run low, but they 
banged away at each other in lively fashion, and 
neither one got a pot without playing for it. Fin- 
ally each got a hand that they evidently proposed 
to stay with. Everything went up — chips, cash, 
two gold watches, and, of course, bank checks, and 
it was only a question of time when they would get 
to the mine. Finally there came a pause. 

"Have you got anything else, Charley?" 

"How much is the mine worth?" 

"I value my interest at $10,000, and I suppose 
yours is the same." 

"Very w^ell," was the grim reply. "I raise you 
that." 

So the other interest went into the pot and there 
was a show down. Charley's winning hand was 
three deuces, a four and a five. His opponent held 
a pair of aces and a pair of kings and a three. Cer- 
tainly neither of these hands could be considered 
sensational, but they were considered good enough 
to stake a mine on. This mine, by the way, is now 
producing ore valued at about as much per month 



POKER IN THE CENTENNIAL STATE. 221 



as the entire property was worth at the time of the 
poker game. 

In a game played in Denver one July day 
in 1884, there were four diamond rings, two 
watches, two 
pairs of costly 
sleeve buttons, 
a number of 
scarf pins and 
$5,000 in 
money staked 
on one pot. In 
this game sat 
an ex-Governor, a 
well known smelter 
man, a California 
miner and an East- 
ern Congressman. 




It was an old time miners' game. 



The man from the East scooped in the pot on a 
small straight. 

Six thousand dollars in nuggets was w^on by a 
lucky poker player in Denver in 1871. The nug- 
gets came from Clear Creek, and were brought to 
Denver for the purpose of being placed in bank, 
and they got there but not in the way intended. 
It was an old time miners' game, with all sorts of 
blufifing, and it lasted all night. The end of it 
was that the man with the nuggets got three tens, 
and he thought it was a simply paralyzing hand. 



222 . JACK POTS. 

and it was pretty good for the way the cards had 
been running, but the other fellow held three jacks. 

In Santa Fe there is a record of a prominent 
business man giving a bill of sale for his stock of 
dry goods, groceries, etc., amounting in all to 
$80,000. This bill of sale went into a quiet little 
game, but it was not lost, for the reason that no 
one could show^ anything excelling a king full, 
which the merchant rightly considered a good 
thing to cling to. 

A rather singular game was one played at Den- 
ver about five years ago, at the Windsor. There 
were five men sitting in the game; a railroad man, 
an ex-Mayor, a lawyer and two prominent business 
men. There came a deal when all stayed in. One 
man drew one card, another two cards, and the 
three others three cards each. The man who drew 
three cards raised, and was followed up until there 
was $18,000 on the table. Then the man who 
drew three cards bet $10,000, and all the others 
laid down. Then it transpired that he had been 
running a beautiful blufT on two pairs, while the 
man who had drawn two cards laid down an ace 
full, and those who had drawn three each laid down 
in turn, four queens, four jacks and four tens. This 
story is vouched for by witnesses, but all the same 
it is pretty hard to believe. The only supposition 
is that the other players were paralyzed at the size 
of their hands. 



POKER IN THE CENTENNIAL STATE. 223 

An amusing instance of Colorado poker playing 
is reported as occurring on a stock train coming 
from a point in New Mexico to Colorado. A large 
shipment of steers was being made to this point 
and the owners of the cattle traveled in a caboose. 
Now there is only one result of four cattlemen trav- 
eling together in a car for any length of time, 
and that is a poker game. There is a great deal 
of beautiful scenery on the way up from New Mexi- 
co, but scenery is cheap and only made for East- 
ern tourists to look at, while poker is always in- 
teresting. 

The game went on very well for a couple of 
days. On the third day the conductor going 
through the caboose during the afternoon, was laid 
out with astonishment at hearing the remark : 'T 
raise you five steers." The man who spoke these 
w^ords then laid five matches on the board. He 
was followed up with more matches, each one rep- 
resenting a steer, and thus the game went on. 
When the shipment arrived at Denver it was 
owned by two instead of four men. 

There is a great deal of gambling on the Klon- 
dike, but not so heavy playing as there was in the 
old California mining camps. The Klondikers 
have a tough time of it as a rule, and, with few 
exceptions, every man is looking eagerly forward 
to the day when he can shake the dust — even if it is 
gold dus,t-^of that region from his feet and rejoin 



2 24 JACK POTS. 

his friends in the haunts of civiUzation. Conse- 
quently he hangs on to every ounce that brings 
him nearer to the day. 

But when the miner makes his pile, and escorts 
it safely to the outposts of hotels, theatres and 
all that makes life worth living, the temptation is 
almost irresistible to have a high old time once 
more. The temptation generally takes the form of 
cards, and as there must be losers where there are 
winners, it is not unusual for a man who has 
amassed enough for him to live on the rest of his 
days to drop it in Seattle, Portland or San Fran- 
cisco, and then start back to the Klondike to make 
another pile. Some of the games played by these 
returned Argonauts are simply fierce, and make 
old timers open their eyes. 

In August, 1899, there arrived at Portland three 
men from the Klondike — George Mulford, Parker 
Hamlin and Henry Smith. They had never met 
each other in the gold regions, but made acquaint- 
ance on the boat. Each had been very successful, 
having about a hundred thousand dollars apiece, 
and all the way down they told each other w^hat 
they were going to do with their wealth. One 
was going into business in Pittsburg, another was « 
going to live on his money in Ohio, and the third 
had a rosy dream of a fruit ranch in California. 
All had been poor men, and they seemed to fully 
appreciate the value of their hard earned money. 



POKER IN THE CENTENNIAL STATE. 225 

When they landed in Portland they went to the 
same hotel, and put in three or four days in fitting 
out with store clothes, and filling up on square 
meals, just to get into the habit of eating again, 
as Smith said. 

They had resolved to leave on Sunday morning, 
and on Saturday night they had a farewell supper. 
After the supper they had a smoke, and then Mul- 
ford suggested a little game of poker, just for fun. 
They had never playe^i cards together, but it soon 
developed that all were most stubborn players. 

The game began mildly, with a fifty-cent ante 
and five dollar limit, and for an hour nobody was 
much to the good. As they played they drank, 
and perhaps that went to the head ; at any rate, the 
limit was raised to a hundred dollars, and they be- 
gan to bet recklessly. The excitement started with 
Mulford, who held two aces. He bet the limit ; 
Smith stayed on two pair; Hamlin raised it the 
limit on three fours, and Mulford came back with 
another hundred raise. Smith and Hamlin laid 
down, and when they saw that Mulford only had a 
pair they swore at themselves for being bluffed. 

The hands ran very low but the betting ran 
higher and higher. The limit was bet about every 
deal, and no one could get away with a bluff, be- 
cause every time one player made a bet, the other 
two would call, even if thev had nothing better 
than ace high. 



2 26 JACK POTS. 

Of course this soon got too tame, and finally the 
Hmit was taken off, and then the recklessness of 
the play was astonishing. On one hand Hamlin 
drew one card to a four flush, and bet five hundred 
dollars. Smith had a pair of sevens, and drew 
three cards without helping his hand. 

"Five hundred dollars?" he said, eyeing Hamlin, 
keenly. 

"That's what I said." 

"I don't believe you made it," returned Smith. 
"At any rate, I'll just lift that five hundred for 
luck." 

"One thousand more," retorted Hamlin. 

"Call you." 

Hamlin showed down a pair of deuces, with a 
laugh. 

On the very next hand Mulford stood pat. It 
was Hamlin's deal and Smith's age. 

"Pat, eh?" said Hamlin. "You haven't got a 
thing, and I know it." 

"Five hundred says I have," returned Mulford. 

"I wish I knew what you were going to do," 
said Hamlin, glancing at Smith. 

"Well," said Smith, with a laugh, "in order to 
not spoil the fun I'll stay out this hand and let you 
two fight it out." 

"Then I'll just keep these," said Hamlin. "Five 
hundred harder." 

Mulford came back at him, and when there was 



POKER IN THE CENTENNIAL STATE. 227 

ten thousand in the pot, HamHn called. Mulford 
had ten high, and Hamlin had queen high. 

The betting simmered down for the next three 
or four hands and then Mulford started out on an- 
other cantico with a pair of kings. This time he 
put his foot into it largely, as Hamlin had three 
nines and Smith three aces. After contributing six- 
teen thousand to the pot, Mulford dropped out, 
and after another big bet Hamlin called. 

By this time Mulford was out about twenty-five 
thousand dollars, and announced his intention of 
quitting. He also advised the others to do likewise, 
but Hamlin was also out some thousands and he 
wanted to get even, and as Smith was ahead he 
didn't care how long he played. So Mulford sat 
and looked on. 

The two men then went at it as if all their prev- 
ious playing had been mere practice. Hardly a 
hand was played that did not count up to two 
thousand dollars, and bets of five thousand w^ere 
frequent. Strange to say the cards began to run 
higher than they had all evening, and that had a 
tendency to add to their excitement. Hamlin fin- 
ally evened up his losses, and Smith then suggested 
that they call it off, but he wouldn't listen. 

About I a. m. Hamlin was ten thousand dollars 
ahead, and then his luck took another turn and he 
lost rapidly. This had a tendency to rattle him 
and eventually proved his undoing. There came 



228 



JACK POTS. 



a hand when he dealt Smith two queens and him- 
self two fives. Each took three cards; Smith 
caught a pair of tens, and Hamlin the other five. 

Smith bet a thousand, Hamlin raised it five thou- 
sand; Smith raised a like amount, Hamlin lifted it 
ten, and Smith again hoisted it ten. 

For the first time during the game, Hamlin 
began to get nervous. He had been blufiing on 

pairs, and calling 
thousands on a 
high card, and 
now he had 
threes, but the 
more he looked 
at them the 
smaller they 
seemed. He was 
again out more 
than ten thou- 
sand and he had 
lost the last five 
or six bets. The 
poker player 
who goes into 
any such line of 
reflection might 
as well quit playing, and Hamlin realized that, but 
he did not like to weaken. 

So he did a very foolish thing. Next to calling 




^^^^^^ 



Smith gave a whoop of joy and threw his 
hand on the table. 



POKER IN THE CENTENNIAL STATE. 229 

his best play was to raise it to the skies, but he 
raised it five hundred dollars. Smith felt certain he 
had him, and he bet thirty thousand dollars flat. 

Hamlin looked at his cards and then at the man 
opposite him, who seemed very serious. He fin- 
gered his cards for fully a minute, and then said, 
hoarsely, ''Damn it, Hank, you've either got four 
small ones or three big ones, and I'll pass." 

Smith gave a whoop of joy and threw his hand 
on the table. 

"Don't look at them," said Mulford, warningly. 
"It may make you feel worse." 

But Hamlin insisted and when he turned up the 
cards he swore like a Klondiker for a minute, and 
then he laughed. 

"Well, I've got enough to live on yet," he said, 
cheerfully. ''I never weakened until I happened to 
think that if I kept on losing I would have to go 
back to that God forsaken country and dig up an- 
other fortune." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

CHILDREN AND POKER TOO MUCH FRANKNESS DADDY 

AND DINAH — HOW THE TOM FOOL HAD 
THEM " ALL ALIKE." 

They say that children and fools speak the truth, 
a most desirable trait indeed, but not of much use 
in a game of poker. For that reason it is just as 
well that both children and fools should be kept 
out when the festive game is in progress. The 
pure innocence of prattling babes is a sweet thing 
to the father and man w^hose days are spoiled with 
the sordid contact of commerce and the wiles of 
the world. Yet that purity of mind sometimes as- 
sumes such poignancy of penetration as to startle 
the fond father. 

Such was the case of a bright four year old 
daughter of a Philadelphia gentleman, who when 
he is at home luxuriates on West Walnut Street, 
and spends his summers at Atlantic City. Owing 
perhaps to the exhilarating influence of the sea air, 
he always indulges in more or less poker playing 
during these months, and it is a matter of some 
envious notice among his friends that he almost 
invariably is a winner. In fact, the gentleman is 
just about good enough to make a living at the 

230 



CHILDREN AND POKER. 23^ 

noble game if his inclinations had drifted that way. 

But there are occasions when fate gets a double 
nelson on him and he goes to grass. On the oc- 
casion in question this gentleman met three of his 
old college chums, and after indulging in personal 
reminiscences until the subject grew tiresome, one 
of the party suggested poker. 

The game went on swimmingly for some time, 
and our friend w^as winning with his accustomed 
frequency. Then there came a jack pot, into which 
he plunged with great enthusiasm. At this stage 
his young and charming daughter climbed upon 
his knee, and was received with a fond embrace. 
Two of the players had dropped out and the third 
was wavering. 

"Ten more," said the Philadelphia man, with a 
cheerful air of confidence. 

The other man took a look at his two pair. They 
were as big as ever, but their importance seemed 
to be dwindling. He had them before the draw 
and hadn't helped them; his opponent had drawn 
three cards, and he was so infernally lucky 

Just at this point the angel child spoke up and 
said: 

''Oh, papa, you have two mammas and one papa, 
and two cards with spots" 

''Raise you ten," said the man with tw^o pair. 

The child must have been astonished at the ve- 
locity with w'hich she was hoisted off of papa's 



232 



JACK POTS. 



knee, and the sternness of the voice that ordered 
her to ''go to your mamma." 

She went, and her papa did not call that raise; 
in fact, he was so unnerved that he was a heavy 
loser before the game ended. And the other 
players were cruel enough to give him the laugh. 

Perhaps it 
was a cousin to 
this young 
lady — a youth 
of tender years, 
known as Au- 
g u s t u s, who 
lived in New 
York. He also 
had arrived at 
the interesting age of four, 
and during that brief period 
had developed so many 
talents that it is a wonder 
wings did not sprout 
from his shoulders. As it 
was his fame was blaz- 
oned even unto the dis- 
tant family circle represented by the fourth assist- 
ant deputy cousins. Yet there came a time when 
the cherub fell from his high estate. 

One Sunday the uncle of Augustus came to town 
to visit the father of Augustus. He had heard of 




"Oh, papa, you have two mammas 

and one papa, and two cards 

with spots." 



CHILDREN AND POKER. 233 

the heir apparent's mental luminosity and ren- 
dered appropriate homage to him, much to the 
delight of his progenitors. The lady, who had not 
hitherto had more than a writing acquaintance with 
Uncle George, expressed a high opinion of his 
intelligence. 

When Sunday evening arrived the mistress of 
the house, who is a strict church member and a 
fanatic on the point of Sabbath observance, pre- 
pared to sally forth to evening service, but, strange 
to relate, her husband and brother-in-law suddenly 
succumbed to violent headaches. 

Menthol and other remedies were freely but 
vainly used, and finally Augustus' mamma had to 
depart by herself. She left her husband in the 
library inhaling spirits of hartshorn and reading 
Fox's ''Book of Martyrs" ; while her brother-in-law 
sat in his own room with a towel tied around his 
fevered brow and an expression of intense sufYering 
on his face. But when the door slammed the two 
men vanished into the library and locked the door. 
Augustus, alone and forgotten, roamed the halls. 

At breakfast on Monday morning Augustus was 
more than usually scintillant and was given all sorts 
of opportunities to display his brightness. 

"Now, Gussie," said his mamma, playfully, "tell 
me what papa and Uncle George did last night." 

Papa and Uncle George exchanged looks, but 
felt reasonably safe. 



934 JACK POTS. 

"They wented into the library," chirped the 
prodigy, "and they flirted." 

"What !" exclaimed the questioning one, while 
the two gentlemen felt the shadow of impending 
disaster. 

"Es they did," continued the charming Augus- 
tus. "I heard 'em frew the door. Papa kept say- 
ing 'You're shy,' and Uncle George would say, 
'No, I ain't shy.' And there was something as 
sounded like this" — he rattled his ivory napkin 
holder on the plate — "and once papa said, 'I'm 
Pat,' Papa's name ain't Pat; is it mamma?" 

It was Dennis for some time afterward, and it is 
feared that papa will never think so much of his 
little Augustus again. 

Black or white it is all the same with children. 
This little anecdote from Dixie will illustrate the 
similarity. 

Old Daddy November always took pride in sa)^- 
ing: "I bawn een Chalston befo' de wah, en I 
been lib yah eber sense. I lib clus to de battry 
whay Mohlan wof stan; a berr nice place fur hit, 
sho nufif, speshially een in de summer, kos een in 
de night, wen yo wuk done, you kin go sot on de 
battry en git nice, cool breeze." 

On a very hot night in August the old man occu- 
pied his favorite seat, and thus discoursed with his 
friend Primus Green. 

"Primus, is I ebber tole you 'bout de narrer' 
'scape I mek on lass Fote ob July?" 



CHILDREN AND POKER. 235 

"No," said Primus, ''you ain't been tole me niu- 
tin' 'bout 'em. What kine er narrer scape you 
mek?" 

Daddy November held his hat between Fort 
Sumter and himself, struck a match, held the match 
behind his hat until he had lighted his pipe, and 
then he put the pipe in his mouth and his hat on 
his head. Then he said: 

''Et bin befo Sambo Robinson bin dig rock een 
de fosfite mine on de Ten Mile Hill, en he bin wuk 
on truck farm, between de fawk of de road and de 
Fo' Mile House. On de Fote ob July Sambo had 
a kyard pahty wot consists ob fo' niggahs — ole 
Sambo hisself, en his friend Gawge Washinton, 
en mc and Hendry Drane, wot sell chicken. 

"We play monstous big game. You kin bet iibe 
cent ebery time. Well, Drane dole de kyards, en 
Sambo gone bline. I git two king, en ob cose I 
cum een. Washinton seen de bline too, en Drane 
kum een. Sambo mek de bline good en tek tree 
kyard. I tek tree, Washinton tek one en Drane 
tek tree. 

"Wen I pick up my han' I mos turn pale. I 
ketch wun mo king en two jack. Sambo he lay 
low. bekase he em bline. I bet fibe cent, en Wash- 
inton he lifif me fibe mo. Drane trow away he han' 
an cuss. Ole Sambo smole a smile en seen my 
fibe cent en Washinton fibe cent en liff em anudder 
fibe. I try ter look es if I gwine ter bluff, en I hab 



236 JACK POTS. 

my hail on de chip fur to rise em agen wen some- 
tin happen wot nobody ain't count on. 

"Sambo got one pooty httle granchile name 
Dinah. De chile ain't but six year ole but she 
know all de kyards. Dinah sot behin Sambo en 
look on de kyard en jiss wen I gone liff Sambo 
some mo, de little gal sing out, 'Oh, how funny! 
Granpa got all de queens!' 

*'Ob course dat mek excitement. I trow away 
my full house, Washinton fling fibe spade on de 
table; Drane he lafT — he cum in on two sebens, 
en Sambo, who hab de queens sho enough, say 
dam, en tun roun en slap de chile en tek her in de 
nex room en put her to bed. Den wen soun kum 
frum de room like spank, en Dinah holler, I sorry 
fur dat chile, kase her talk seen sabe me at least 
sebenty fibe cent. I mek narrer scape." 

"En what Washinton say?" inquired Primus. 

"Gawge Washinton say," replied Daddy No- 
vember, "dat Sambo ain't no right fur to spank dat 
chile, kaws she been tole de troof." 

Three children are at least equal to one fool, 
and this is the story of how a fool got away with 
a wise man. 

In the year 1880 there came to western Missouri 
from Vermont a family named Hecker, consisting 
of a man and wife and six children. What tempted 
a Yankee to come to Missouri, and that section in 
particular, no one knew except Hecker and he 



CHILDREN AND POKER. 237 

never told. He first started in the grocery busi- 
ness, but soon found that he could not compete 
with the shopkeepers to the manner born, and 
within a year he failed and then took up farming. 

He was not much more successful as a farmer 
than a shopkeeper, but he made a living, and that 
seemed to satisfy him. In fact he lost all the traits 
of his Yankee nature, and just shuffled along 
through life like his neighbors. In 1888 he died, 
leaving his wife and children to make a still poorer 
living out of the rocky farm. 

The eldest of his children was a boy of twenty, 
then came four girls, and then a boy, named Zenas, 
aged fifteen, who was a mere simpleton. It was 
said that he was bright enough up to the age of 
six, and then something grew on his brain — that 
was the way his mother explained his affliction. He 
was both harmless and goodnatured, and the child- 
ren very fond of him, because although a big fellow 
he played with them like one of themselves. In 
fact, the poor fellow was a general favorite in the 
town where he strayed occasionally. 

In 1891 there came a change in the fortunes of 
the Hecker family. Some enterprising fellow dis- 
covered zinc and lead on the farm, and w^as honest 
enough to offer the widow a generous per centage 
on the output. The mine turned out to be won- 
derfully prolific and the result was an income to 
the Heckers that practically made them wealthy. 



238 JACK POTS. 

Fortunately, Henry, the eldest son, had a wise 
head, and he kept the family pride from swelling 
too much. 

They moved into town where they occupied a 
comfortable house, the girls were sent to school, 
and Henry acted as his mother's representative at 
the mines. Zenas, of course, remained at home, 
and wore good clothes and also had more money 
than was good for him. He did not have a per- 
fect idea of the value of money, but he knew 
enough to keep count, and make small purchases. 
His mother — like a mother — thought more of Ze- 
nas than all the rest of her children, and tried to 
persuade herself that he was recovering his senses, 
and that was one reason why she kept him supplied 
with plenty of pocket money. It was also suspect- 
ed that Zenas knew other routes to his mother's 
pocket book since he occasionally flourished rather 
large bills. 

On one occasion when he was known to have at 
least a hundred dollars with him he came into the 
leading hotel of the town and was spotted for game 
by a couple of the hangers-on. They were not ex- 
actly professional gamblers, although hindered 
more by lack of skill than scruple, but they had 
enough experience to be dangerous opponents for 
any ordinary country player let alone a simpleton. 

The landlord's son, a boy of twenty, got Zenas 
into a side room and proposed a game of poker. 



CHILDREN AND POKER 



239 



Zenas knew how to play casino and seven-up in a 
kind of way, so that he could tell the cards, but he 
did not know how to play poker. The landlord's 
son undertook to teach him the value of the hands, 
and after a little while Zenas announced that he was 
ready to play. Just at this time a couple of 
strangers happened into the room accidently, to 
the chagrin of the three young scoundrels who 
were about to fleece the unfortunate. 

They were guests of the house only arrived that 
day and did 
not know Ze- 
n a s , but 
noticing his 
open mouth 
and gawky 
manner, stay- 
ed to see the 
fun. When the 
game com- 
menced, how- 
ever, and they 
saw that Ze- 
nas was really 
a simpleton, 
they e X- 
changed glances, and one of them said: 'Til just 
stand behind your chair, my boy, and give you a 
few pointers." 




'I'll just stand behind your chair, my boy, and g'wa 
you a few pointers." 



240 JACK POTS 

"That ain't fair," growled the landlord's son. 

''Maybe not," replied the stranger, ' but we 
don't want the unfairness to be all on one side." 

''Oh, let him do it," spoke up one of the other 
fellows. "This is only to teach him the game, any- 
how." 

There was no further remark, and the game be- 
gan. It was ten cent ante, and Zenas came in on 
every hand. The man behind him made no objec- 
tion to that, but he showed him how^ to draw to his 
hand, and also advised him when to call. To the 
surprise of the three young men, Zenas proved to 
be an extremely apt pupil, so much so that the man 
behind his chair began to think that his sympathy 
had perhaps been wasted, and that Zenas was not 
the fool he looked, so he relaxed his vigilance, 
and with his friend took a chair at a little distance 
and contented himself with an occasional word of 
advice. 

The three amateur sharpers now felt more con- 
fident, and gradually began to absorb some of the 
fool's money. 

On one of the hands, when there was about ten 
dollars up, Zenas turned to his adviser, and said : 

"When they're all alike, mister, does that count? 

The man nodded his head, and Zenas pushed in 
ten dollars. The others glanced at each other and 
there was a general throwing up of cards. Zenas 
raked in the pot, and as he laid down his hand, the 



CHILDREN AND POKER. 241 

landlord's son turned over the cards and disclosed 
three hearts and two diamonds. 

''All red cards," said Zenas, with a grin. 

The two on-lookers burst in a roar of laughter, 
while the others looked sheepish. 

Zenas lost the next three pots, and the fourth he 
won on three kings. Then came a dozen pots in 
succession, which he lost, but all for small sums. 

Then there came a deal w^hen it was raised two 
or three times before the draw. This was a new- 
feature to Zenas, and he had to have it explained 
to him at great length, and then it was evident 
that he did not like it. But he drew cards in a 
sulky w^ay, and to the delight of his opponents he 
took four. The man behind him tried to check 
him, as he saw that he was discarding a pair of 
tens, but it was too late. 

''He knows his business, mister," said the land- 
lord's son, with a coarse laugh. "Board's the 
play." 

"Yes, I know it is," said the man, "but I want 
to tell you right here, that this is the last hand you 
are going to play." 

"Is that so?" asked one of the other players, with 
a sneer. 

"Yes, it is so." 

"Well, then, don't you interfere with this last 
hand," was the sharp response. 

"All right," said the man, quietly. 



242 JACK POTS. 

The landlord's son drew two cards, the others 
three cards each. One of the fellows held two pair, 
the other did not help his pair of queens, and the 
landlord's son made a full house — three tens and a 
pair of eights. 

It was his first say, and he started it at a dol- 
lar. The man with a pair dropped out, the other 
fellow raised five dollars. Now it was up to Zenas. 
He looked at his cards in a vague way, and then 
shoved in a bundle without counting it. The land- 
lord's son counted it and found twenty-two dol- 
lars. 

'That makes sixteen dollars raise," he said. 

*'Ya-as, that's right," drawled Zenas. ''Only I 
wanter know" 

"No, you can't ask any advice," cried the land- 
lord's son, sharply, "That's the agreement." Then 
he added, hastily, 'T raise you ten dollars." 

"But I wanter know," drawled Zenas. 

"Shut up, I tell you!" 

But Zenas wasn't to be silenced. Holding his 
cards all hunched up, he wriggled around on his 
chair, and seemed on the point of bursting into 
tears. And then he broke out in spite of the agree- 
ment. 

"Say, mister, I've got four cards all alike, 
and" 

"Say!" The landlord's son was on his feet, 
blazing with wrath, but the stranger held up his 
hand soothingly. 



CHILDREN AND POKER. 243 

'*A bargain's a bargain," he said, laughingly. 
'*My friend, you'll have to go it alone this time." 

Zenas looked at his new friend and then at his 
companion, but their faces were blank. Then he 
fingered his cards for a minute, and then he went 
down into his trouser's pocket and brought up a 
bundle of bills. He took away a dollar bill from 
the roll, and dropped the rest on the table. 

"Fve only got that much," he stammered. 

The landlord's son pounced on it. 

'There's forty-two dollars here," he said, trying 
to speak carelessly. ''Do you want to raise thirty- 
two dollars?" 

'T suppose so," was the hesitating reply. 

''Cut it down half," suggested one of the men 
locking on. 

"No, I won't," said the landlord's son, doggedly. 
"It's his money, and we'd give him ours if he 
won it." 

He had to rake up every cent he had, and bor- 
row ten dollars from his friends to call the bet. As 
he did so the men who had been looking on, 
stepped up behind Zenas. 

He did not understand at first that he had been 
called, and it was with some difiiculty that he was 
persuaded to deposit his cards on the table. Then 
he slowly disclosed four kings! 

There was a chorus of oaths and howls of rage 
from the amateur sharpers, and there is no doubt 



244 JACK POTS. 

that they would have taken the pot by force if it 
had not been for the presence of the strangers. 

''Good boy!" shouted one of them. 'Tour of a 
kind, sure enough ! Well, it takes a fool to speak 
the truth." 

And the town fool walked away with the^ money, 
and, as the strangers took care to tell the story, the 
sharpers never got it back. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE POLICE AND THE GAMBLERS A DOWN EAST SELEC 1 - 

MAN A BUNKO GAME AT LOS ANGELES STORY 

OF THE SHORT-CARD MAN. 

The police are always at war with the gam- 
blers — quite properly — but they are not always suc- 
cessful in keeping them within bounds. It is nec- 
essary to get unde- 
niable evidence, and 
that is not readily 
obtainable, so the 
guardians of the 
morals as well as 
the peace of the 
community must 
get it themselves. 
This is not so easy 
as it might appear. 
There are two 
methods — strategy 
and force. In Cin- 
cinnati not long 
ago there came 
vigorous com- 
plaints of a poker 
game that was anything but on the square, so it 
was determined to raid the house. As usual the 




The officers walk^ into the various traps 
set for them. 



245 



246 JACK POTS. 

managers of the place received a tip and prepared 
to give the poHce a hot reception. They fihed the 
rear yard and halhvay with boxes, beer kegs and 
other stuff. Barbed wires were strung so that 
officers scahng the fence would become entangled 
in them, and the cellar way was partially filled with 
sticks of timber and the door left open. 

The officers came as expected and walked into 
the various traps set for them. They were shame- 
fully cut and torn by the wires and bruised by falls 
over obstructions in the yard. Every uniform was 
ruined. When the police were in the midst of their 
struggles the gamblers who had been watching, 
gave them the laugh and fled. One veteran sport 
who was with the party didn't laugh. 

*'John," he said to the head man, ''this isn't so 
sharp a trick as you think. The police are only do- 
ing their duty and you have no right to person- 
ally injure them. They will remember it against 
you, and if you undertake to open up another 
game in this town they will never give you a mo- 
ment's peace." 

The boss laughed again, but he realized to his 
sorrow that the old sport knew more than he did 
about poker and police. He opened up three 
times in succession and every time he was pulled 
before he had a chance to make a winning. 

The other way is to resort to strategy, and the 
process is always about the same. Detective Bern- 



THE POLICE AND THE GAMBLERS. 247 

Stein is informed that a crooked game is in prog- 
ress at such a number on Clark Street. The place 
is called the Kalamazoo Club. It is understood 
that the club is open only to members, but Bern- 
stein is not only permitted but invited to visit the 
place. 

He goes to the house and tells the custodian 
that he has an appointment to meet Harry Brown 
there. The name was a creation of his mind, but 
he is promptly invited to go up stairs and wait for 
his friend. When he reached the third floor he 
saw a complete poker layout — table, cards, chips 
and players. There was a vacant chair at the table, 
and he was asked to take a hand in a fifty cent 
limit game. He declined and said that he must 
see Brown. After watching for a time, he con- 
cluded to leave, but promised to return. 

The next night he came back, and he was as- 
sured that he had missed a good thing by not 
remaining the previous night. Then he took a 
hand, and purchased three stacks of chips for five 
dollars. At first he won a considerable amount, 
and then the luck wxnt the other way, and his win- 
nings dwindled down. A jack pot was opened by 
the detective with three queens. The others 
stayed. Cards were drawn the detective taking 
two, while the others stood pat. On the first raise 
Bernstein prudently threw up his hand. 

Two or three more hands were played and then 



-•48 JACK POTS. 

he got a king full. He thought that was pretty 
good, and decided to win or lose on it. He went 
broke, because one of the other players had four 
tens. This satisfied him. He left, and the next 
day had a warrant sworn out for the place. 

The trouble wath that kind of strategy is that 
the detective is always at a disadvantage when it 
comes to testifying on trial. It is very easy to 
make a point with a jury that he only complained 
because he lost ; if he had won he would have kept 
on going tEere and pocketed his winnings. Then 
again, it doesn't follow that the game is crooked 
because a man loses. Perhaps he is not a skillful 
player. When an ofBcer of the law makes a big 
winning at a gambling game and then informs the 
authorities, his sense of justice cannot be called 
into question, but where is the case? 

A summer tourist describes a scene in a New 
England village. About a table sat three stran- 
gers who had started a friendly game of poker by 
roping in the usual country jay. After an hour's 
play they had fleeced their victim to the tune of 
$40. He w^as good natured and did not growd and 
the game continued. 

The scoundrels showed no mercy. They did not 
let their victim win even a few dollars to encourage 
him but either stacked the cards or whipsawed 
him until he w^as compelled to drop. At the last 
pot the jay was $65 loser. 



THE POLICE AND THE GAMBLERS. 249 

"Have you had enough?" asked the leader of the 
gang, rising with a smile — and his winnings. 

The jay's countenance immediately underwent a 
marked change. He had every appearance of a 
man consumed with virtuous wrath, as he drew a 
revolver out of his pocket, and said: 

"Gentlemen, I am one of the selectmen of this 
town. You may consider yourselves under arrest." 

The gang, thunderstruck, was led to the lock-up 
where it rested for the night. On the following 
morning the sharpers were brought before this 
same selectman. The constable had searched them 
and the contents of their pockets were placed on 
the table. 

"Gentlemen," said the selectman, suavely, "you 
are charged with gambling and obtaining money 
by fraud. What have you to say?" 

"Only this," replied the leader of the gang. 
**You were gambling just as much as any of us, and 
if we have broken the law so have you." 

"Not at all," responded the selectman, with an 
extremely judicial air. "I was gambling merely to 
collect evidence. However, if you wish to make a 
test on this point I will remand you for trial." 

"We w^ould rather have it settled here," said the 
prisoner, hastily. 

"Then," said the selectman, calmly, "the sen- 
tence is a fine of fifty dollars each or thirty days in 
the county jail." 



250 JACK POTS. 

They paid their fines, and the money went to the 
State — or to the selectman. Next day the jay was 
at the hotel ready .to be taken in again. 

The "squealer" is a frequent figure in court. 
He has to be taken into account, although he is a 
contemptible character. He is invariably a fellow 
of low cunning, who has the instincts of a cheat, 
and when he sits into a game, whatever it may be, 
he has formed a plan to cheat the other fellows. 
The result is that he is cheated, and then he roars 
like a stuck gig, and runs for help to the police. 
He is the same fellow who goes to town to buy 
a stock of counterfeit money, which he intended 
to work off on his friends and neighbors, and when 
he finds that he has given good money for a lot 
of sawdust, invokes the protection of the law that 
he has been endeavoring to violate. There need 
be no pity for the biter when he gets bit, but we 
can afford to drop a tear for the honest fellow who 
is taken in by the bunko poker player. 

One of the most striking instances of a hair 
raising bunko poker game occurred in Los An- 
geles, and the funniest part of the whole story is 
that, with three men working him, the victim him- 
self proposed the game and introduced the three 
steerers to each other, all of which was part of the 
play. 

The gentleman was a merchant -from the East, 
who had come to California for a year's stay to 



THE POLICE AND THE GAMBLERS. 251 

benefit his health. He was extremely wealthy aivi 
also sportively inclined, although all his knowledge 
had been gained among gentlemen like himself, 
so that he had no suspicion of evil. To the hotel 
there came a man representing himself as an offi- 
cial of the Canadian Pacific railroad, who had been 
East on business and was now on his way to San 
Francisco. The Eastern gentleman soon made 
the acquaintance of the railroad man and for two 
days the pair chummed together. 

Another guest arrived from Chicago, who also 
made known the fact that he was destined for San 
Francisco. Anxious to make things pleasant for 
his friends the old gentleman introduced one stran- 
ger to the other, seeing that they both intended 
remaining at the hotel over Sunday and then go- 
ing on to San Francisco. The newcomer was in 
the boot and shoe business. 

Soon there was another arrival, and he proved 
to be a high roller. He was a stockman returning 
to his ranch from market, and he had a roll of 
bills as big as his head. He ordered everything of 
the finest and hardly ever flashed forth anything 
less than a tenner. It did not take him long to 
get acquainted with the old gentleman, in fact, 
he got pretty well mixed up with every soul about 
the place before he had been there a night — all but 
the Canadian Pacific man and the boot and shoe 
dealer. When he did meet these two worthies it 



252 JACK POTS. 

was through the medium of the genial gentleman 
from the East. 

With such good fellows around him the onJ)- 
outcome could be a poker game, and soon it was 
going. The railroad magnate did not know much 
about the game, the boot and shoe man hoped it 
would be a small limit, and the stockman did not 
care how high it went — the higher the better for 
him, he said. 

So it started. It opened at three o'clock Satur- 
day afternoon and was still going at 9 a. m. the 
next day. Then it ended. The old gentleman 
was out $1,700 in cash and $40,000 in checks. The 
stockman had not a dollar of his big roll left, which 
was easily $10,000, and he, too, had given checks 
for more than $25,000. The game had simply been 
a ripsnorter and everything went. 

It was the stockman who threw up his hand. He 
said he could not stand it any longer. The three 
agreed to give him a revenge game after dinner, 
and so the matter rested for a time. When the 
old gentleman had taken a much needed nap, and 
had his dinner, he was handed a note signed by the 
railroad magnate, expressing regret that a tele- 
gram had been received necessitating his going 
to San Francisco without delay, and that the boot 
and shoe man had decided to accompany him. 

With the wings of a bird the gentleman from 
the East flew to the apartments of his fellow suf- 



THE POLICE AND THE GAMBLERS. 



253 



ferer, the stockman, and related the facts within his 
knowledge. 

"Bunkoed!" cried the stockman, and added 
much more vigorous language to support his opin- 
ion. "I tell you," he wound up, determinedly, ''I 
am not going to stand it." 

"What can we do?" asked the old gentleman, 
helplessly. 

"We can't be- 
lieve that mes- 
sage," returned 
the stockman. 
"Like as not they 
have not left the 
city. We will put 
the .police on 
their trail for one 
thing, and then 
we will telegraph 
to the banks 
where we have 
given checks 
stopping their 
payment! Here ! You needn't bother yourself ; I've 
had experience with sharpers before. Give me a 
list of your checks, and I'll do the telegraphing." 

He dashed out of the hotel, and when he came 
back he assured his friend that everything had been 
done in proper shape. 




I hope you do not suspect that I knowingly intro- 
duced you to these scoundrels." 



254 . JACK POTS. 

"Now," said he, knowingly, "let us wait until 
to-morrow, and we will save all that money and 
most likely bag our game." 

"I hope," said the old gentleman, timidly, "that 
you do not suspect that I knowingly introduced 
you to these scoundrels?" 

"Certainly not, certainly not," replied the stock- 
man, heartily. "My dear sir, no matter what may 
be the outcome of this affair, I absolve you of all 
the blame." 

Monday morning there was another surprise 
awaiting the old gentleman. The stockman was 
missing. The old gentleman went to the police 
headquarters and the telegraph office, and found 
that no information had been lodged or telegrams 
sent. The stockman had been in the game bigger 
than any of the trio. His roll had been good only 
for a hundred or so, the balance being counterfeit, 
and he had remained behind to keep the old gentle- 
man off the trail while his pals got a good start. 
The victim stopped the checks on all the distant 
banks, but he never saw his cash again. 

There is a clever story told on one of the prom- 
inent railroad officials of Georgia, who sat down 
to shear and rose up shorn. He went to New 
York to attend a meeting of the Southern Railway 
and Steamship Association, and through the intro- 
duction of several high officials was led into a "soci- 
ety" game of poker. 



THE POLICE AND THE GAMBLERS. 



255 



There was a presi- 
dent of an insurance 
company in the game, 
who sat in only to fill 
up, as he was not a 
regular player, 
and the other 
three were 
society bloods, 
who were 
more used to 
dancing than 
card playing. 
When the 
game started 
the railroad 
man remarked 
that it wasn't 
a fair show for 
the others. 

' ^ Y o u 
k n o w," h e 
said, apologetical]y,*'that 
everybody down South 
plays poker ; it's like 
mother's milk to them, 
and that gives me a big 
advantage. However, 
ni promise to not play 
tricks." 




His comparnon leaned up against the 

nearest lamppost and laughed 

until he cried. 



256 - JACK POTS. 

Of course this was said more in fun than by way 
of boasting, but before the evening was over he 
wished he had kept his mouth shut. He played in 
the worst kind of luck, because he held good hands, 
such as warranted high betting, always to be de- 
feated by the better hands of his society opponents. 
The insurance man simply chipped along, with only 
an occasional call, and put in the rest of his time 
making humorous remarks about the superiority 
of the southern style of poker playing. 

* Finally he caught a pat flush, and he deemed 
himself lucky, as it came at a time when he had 
but thirty dollars left. There wxre good hands all 
around, and repeated raises, which made the rail- 
road man feel so much the better. But before it 
came to the actual betting after the draw his money 
was all gone, and he had to play his face. Then 
it came to a show down, and to his horror the 
young man on his right held four nines. 

He rose from the table and offered an humble 
apology for his remarks at the beginning of the 
sitting, and nobody was unkind enough to laugh. 
But when he and his insurance friend got outside, 
and he was obliged to ask for money to pay his 
hotel bill, his companion leaned up against the 
nearest lamppost and laughed until he cried. 

There is one thing to be said in favor of the 
professional gambler. He is game. When the 
sucker undertakes to skin the supposed innocent 



THE POLICE AND THE GAMBLERS. 



257 



and finds that he is a wolf in sheep's clothing, he 
wants his money back, but when the gambler finds 
that his schemes have miscarried, he lets it go at 
that, and rarely whimpers, although he may tell 
about it as a good story. 

"Yes," said the short-card man, with a grin, 
'John is a good fellow, but he's got a heap to learn 
about the game of poker. Now, for instance, I 
met him the other night, and he proposed a little 
game. I was needing money that night and I fell 
in with the proposition gladly. John has plenty 
of stufT, and he does not hesitate to bet it as well 
as he knows how. I figured that with him and me 
playing a nice, 
sociable two- 
handed game, 
the element of 
chance would 
vanish, and I 
would be rea- 
sonably sure 
of getting 
what I wanted. 

''W e sat 
down and I 
played square 
for awhile. Luck ran about even. Neither of us 
had lost or won anything. We piked along for an 
hour or so, and then I thought I might just as well 
wind the whole thing up. 




Hold on there." said John, and my heart turned to 
stone. " I've got four aces." 



258 JACK POTS. 

"It came my deal and I fixed the cards. I gave 
him three aces on the go-in, and took four kings 
myself. You know how these amateurs are — they 
think there is nothing bigger than three aces. I 
figured that with his knowledge of the game he 
would bet till the cows came home on those three 
bullets. 

''John's eyes bulged out when he saw the three 
aces, and he gave it a good lively tilt. I came back 
at him, and there was a large wad in the middle of 
the table when the draw came. John allowed he 
would take two cards. I took one, for the looks 
of the thing, and it was his age. I bet ten, and 
he came back with twenty. We kept on until every 
cent I had was on the cloth, and John had shoved 
in his watch. 

*'I admired his nerve, but as I was fixed I 
couldn't afford to be sorry for him. He rustled 
around and got valuables enough to call my last 
raise. I laid down the four kings I had all the 
time, and began to rake in the pot. 

'' 'Hold on there,' said John, and my heart 
turned to stone. 'I've got four aces.' 

"And," continued the short-card man, reflec- 
tively, "I'll be cussed if he hadn't caught the other 
ace in the draw, and I was broke for a month. 
Nobody but a novice in poker would have been 
guilty of a draw like that, when the cards were all 
fixed to beat him. No, no; John can't play cards." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SUPERSTITIOUS PLAYERS — QUEENS AND TENS LOUIS 

LAID THEM DOWN EUCHRE AND POKER 

AN OLD STORY. 

There being so much chance about cards of 
course there is superstition among players. It has 
been said that all players are superstitious, and that 
may be true but certainly not to the same degree. 
Some are to such a ridiculous extent that it utterly 
ruins their game. The man who must have his 
seat just so, must not meet a cross-eyed man, or 
must meet a man with a hump, and can't play un- 
less a dozen crotchety notions are complied with, 
is not likely to play a good game once out of fifty 
times. A man must recognize that most of his 
success comes from his own endeavors or else he 
m.ight as well shut his eyes and bet at random. 
Of such capers as walking around your chair to 
change your luck, spitting over the left shoulder, 
changing your seat, and lots of other simple tricks, 
even the wisest of poker players have indulged in 
them, but more for fun than with any fixed belief 
in their efficacy. 

There are other matters, however, in connection 
with poker, in which superstition plays a prominent 
part. Most poker players also indulge in faro, and 

259 



26o JACK POTS. 

will have noticed the system players — in fact, may 
be one themselves. One man believes that the cards 
always play out the way they started, another 
thinks they must break even, one will always play 
the face cards open, and it is a maxim with the 
majority to never copper the ace on the last turn. 
No amount of breaking will convince a system 
player that he is wrong — it is always something 
else that broke him. The faro dealer likes to see 
the system players in front of him; they support 
the bank. 

Poker players do not go to those extremes, but 
many of them have funny notions about cards. I 
have met gamblers who would go broke on three 
aces. They acknowledged that there were plenty 
of hands in the pack to beat three aces, but they 
contended that the hands wouldn't be out at the 
same time. I have known men who maintained 
that they never had three aces beaten, although 
they had seen them beaten many times when held 
by other men. Other men admitted that they had 
had three aces beaten but only on rare occasions; 
not enough to shake their faith in the rule. 

Nearly every old player has some such supersti- 
tibn. He has a pet hand; one which, if he will 
not exactly go broke on, he will bet fiercely and 
confidently. For this very reason no doubt the 
favorite hand frequently wins. The man who be- 
lieves that three aces are invincible is apt to bet 



SUPERSTITIOUS PLAYERS. 261 

them as if they were four, and carry dismay to his 
opponents. 

I have met two players who beHeved that queens 
•and tens were invincible. The men were not in 
the same town, by the way, and never met so far 
as I know. One man admitted that he had been 
done up on the hand once or twice, but the other 
man was adamant. This latter was a Frenchman 
of Bismarck, Dakota, locally known as Louis. 

This was twenty-five years ago, when Bismarck 
had been busted by the collapse of Jay Cooke, and 
had not started on the return trip to prosperity. 
When the railroad had entered the town in 1873, 
it was a red hot place. Everything was wide open, 
and there was lots of money. 

When Jay Cooke failed the railroad stopped, the 
railroad men left town and the gamblers soon fol- 
lowed. Pretty near all the money went with the 
gamblers and for the next five or six years it was 
the queerest sporting town on earth. There was 
all the inclination, but the means were lacking. 
Everything was wide open, and practically every- 
body played but there w^as so little money in town 
that plunging was out of the question. 

Across the Missouri River was Fort Abraham 
Lincoln, where was stationed the Seventh Cavalry 
under the famous Custer. Of course, that was a 
source of supply. The soldiers on and after pay 
day drifted over to Bismarck and dropped a few; 



262 JACK POTS. 

but they were pretty fair players themselves, and 
just as liable to carry away a bundle as leave it. 
The Coulson Line of boats plying between Yank- 
ton and upper Missouri points, dropped a passen- 
ger now and then who had a few dollars, and oc- 
casionally somebody with money wandered in 
from an Indian reservation. Hardly any one came 
into town to settle, and the transients did not stay 
long enough to get acquainted. Then there came 
occasionally a post trader or Montana freighter 
who wanted to blow in about five hundred dollars 
in three days, dance on the billiard table, shoot 
out the lights and break mirrors, and otherwise let 
off steam. 

It was quite a happy family of busted sports, all 
too sharp to prey on each other, and with no one 
else to prey on. So they played with each other, 
on the square and just as fiercely as if there were 
thousands at stake instead of five dollar bills. To 
this colony Louis belonged. 

He was a painter by trade, but there were very 
few painting jobs in Bismarck, so he must have 
eked out a living by some other means. He was 
an occasional poker player, and really a good one, 
because he. was cool, good natured, courageous 
and knew the value of a hand. His only fault was 
that he did not play out his luck. When every- 
thing seemed to be going his way, he would get 
up and cash in his chips, and jump the game. The 



SUPERSTITIOUS PLAYERS. 263 , 

Other fellows agreed that a man who would throw 
away his luck when he had it would end up in not 
having any. 

Louis was the man who believed in two queens 
and two tens. He never referred to the subject 
except when he won a pot on his favorite two pair, 
and then he would say: "There they are. I tell 
you, boys, you can't beat them." 

Then the boys would sneer or wink at each 
other, and privately w^onder how a man could be 
so simple, although every mother's son had a pet 
superstition of his own. 

One night Swede Pete opened a jack pot on two 
queens and two tens. Everybody stayed and on 
the final show dow^n everybody had him beat. 

''Now look at that !" he said, indignantly. 'T just 
thought I'd give Louis' hand a whirl, and see 
where it's landed me." 

''That's all right," said Louis, tranquilly. '*I 
never said they would win for everybody; only for 
me." 

One night some time later Louis was in a game, 
and the boys put up a job on him. They couldn't 
have done it except for the fact that Louis had 
struck a .good piece of painting, and was flush. 
Being in more than his usual good humor, he 
tucked away three hot Scotches in the course of 
the evening, which, not being his ordinary tipple, 
made him rather hazy. He was keen enough, 



264 JACK POTS. 

however, to keep ahead of the game, but when one 
of the boys treated him to a fourth drink of the 
same he was rather silly. 

The hot Scotch was brought in on a tray, and 
underneath was a cold deck. It was Pete's deal 
and Louis got his favorite two pair. Pete took 
three kings and a pair of sevens himself, as a wise 
precaution lest Louis should draw another queen, 
as he had been known to do occasionally. 

Louis betrayed no emotion on seeing his favor- 
ites; firstly, because he was too good a player to 
give himself away, and secondly, because he always 
took his favorite hand as a matter of course. 

There was no raising before the draw, and Louis 
took one card. Pete stood pat, and the other three 
players dropped out promptly. 

''You don't want any, eh?" said Louis. 

''No," replied Pete, in a loud voice, and in a 
blustering way, trying to make it appear that he 
was blufifing. "I guess these are good enough." 

"Well, it's your bet." 

Pete laid his cards down, and then with great 
care counted all his white chips, then all his red 
ones, and then all his blues. He shoved them all 
up into the centre of the table, and looked at Louis 
defiantly. 

Louis looked at his cards, then gazed up at the 
smoky oil lamp that hung from the ceiling, and 
then fixed his eyes on Pete. 



SUPERSTITIOUS PLAYERS. 



265 



**I wonder what you've 
got," he said, dreamily. 

"Got you beat," said 
Pete, briefly. 

"Well, I don't know 
but you have," 
draw'led Louis. 

Then he 
wrapped up his 
bills, put them 
in his pocket, 
stacked up his 
chips, and called 
to the barkeeper 
to cash them. 

"Ain't you go- 
ing to call?" de- 
manded ' Pete, 
not trying to 
hide his amazement. 

"Haven't got any- 
thing to call on," said 
Louis, as he arose to go. 

"Why, you " 

The other three 
howled with laughter at 
this give-away, and 
Louis smiled amiably. 

"Two queens and two 




Queens and two tens," 
he said, slcwly, "never 
were beaten in my hand 
— in a square deal." 



266 JACK POTS. 

tens," he said, slowly, ''never were beaten yet in 
my hand — in a square deal." 

Then he walked out, and no one could ever get 
him to explain whether he suspected the trick or 
really weakened on his favorites. But it was 
noticed that he never played them quite so strongly 
in the future. 

Speaking of put-up hands, they are not so easily 
worked as one might imagine, unless the victim is 
particularly green. With clumsy sharpers the 
trick is apt to be helped out with violence. 

A young Finlander came into Montana one day, 
and like other precocious youths fancied that he 
understood the game of poker. There was no 
trouble finding a gentleman who was willing to 
afford him a little amusement, and who knew of a 
retired room where the cards could be shufifled 
without molestation. 

The game was strictly for cash, and progressed 
with varying fortune for about an hour. Then the 
tricky man concluded it was time to shake things 
up. So he provided himself with a full hand and 
gave the Finlander two pair. There was thirteen 
dollars in the pot. He drew one card. 

It was not intended that the Finlander should 
have more than two pair, but the dealer made a 
botch and gave him an ace, making three aces and 
two kings. The mistake was discovered in time, 
however, and the superfluous ace grabbed from 



SUPERSTITIOUS PLAYERS. 267 

his hand and destroyed. The Finlander drew an- 
other card, and th'is time he drew a king, making 
three kings and a pair of aces. When the dealer 
discovered that the greenhorn had him beaten out 
in spite of the crooked work, he settled matters by 
taking the pot anyway, and the final result was the 
Finlander had to be pried of¥ by the police. 

There used to 1)e a trick worked very success- 
fully on railway trains, where card playing was in 
order. Two or four men would be playing euchre, 
and the cards would be worked around until the 
victim found himself with a hand containing three 
aces. 

Then one of the other players would say: 'T 
wish I was playing poker." 

The man with the three aces would eye them 
tenderly, and ask: "Why?" 

''Well," the other fellow w-ould reply, 'T've got 
a pretty good hand here. If you let me discard 
tw^o cards, I can beat any hand in the deck." 

Nearly every time the man with three aces would 
fall into the trap. 

"T'll discard two cards and go you," he would 
say. 

The discards would be made, the betting begin, 
and when the show-dow^n came the man with three 
aces would be confronted with three hearts, clubs 
or some suit, and be informed that a flush beat 
three aces. The victim would be mortified, but he 



268 JACK POTS. 

couldn't see how he had any kick coming, so he 
would surrender his coin. 

One day when this trick was played on the Illi- 
nois Central, just out of Dubuque, the victim had 
a friend looking over his shoulder. He had made 
no remark during the preliminary talk or the bet- 
ting, but when the cards were shown he leaned 
over and touched his friend on the arm. 

''Don't pay that money," he said, quietly. 

The flush man looked up angrily. 

''What's the reason he won't pay it?" he de- 
moded. "A flush beats three aces, don't it?" 

"Undoubtedly," was the response, "but you 
haven't got a flush." 

"Haven't got a flush? Well, I'd like to know 
if I haven't. These are all clubs, and a flush is 
where all the cards are of the same suit." 

There was a general chorus of "That's so," and 
"You're right," but the objector was not disturbed. 

"Popular error — pretty nearly right, but not 
quite," he returned. "A flush, gentlemen, is five 
cards of the same suit. Now, you cannot play 
three cards as a hand in poker ; therefore your hand 
is foul and does not win anything. Of course, 
neither do the three aces win ; both hands are foul 
and the pot must be divided." 

As it happened, they all were gentlemen, or pro- 
fessed to be, and they saw the force of the argu- 
ment, so the pot was divided, and no one hurt. 



SUPERSTITIOUS PLAYERS. 269 

This recalls another railway card story, which 
has been told several times and fathered on differ- 
ent men, but the tenor of the story is the same. 

Traveling in a Pullman car one day were a com- 
mercial traveler and a mining millionaire who owed 
his fortune to his faculty of taking advantage of an 
opportunity and of his fellow man. As the train 
sped along the pair dropped into a friendly game 
of euchre. 

An hour or so passed, and then the millionaire 
dealt and turned up a queen. The eyes of the 
drummer brightened as he gazed at his hand. 

'T w^ish we were playing poker," he ventured. 

The mine owner looked over his cards and said 
nothing. 

"How^ would you like to change the game?" 
asked the man of orders. ''I'd like to play this 
hand at poker." 

The millionaire glanced at his cards again, and 
remarked pleasantly: "Well, I don't care if I do. 
But you must let me discard and take this queen." 

"Oh, certainly," was the eager response. "I'll 
bet you fifty dollars on this hand." 

"I'll see that and go a hundred better," returned 
the miner. 

The commercial traveler smiled with great glee. 
"Fll raise you two hundred and fifty," he said, 
counting out the money. 

"Well," remarked the miUionaire, calmly, "if you 



270 JACK POTS. 

insist on playing poker, Fm your man. I'll just 
go you a thousand better." 

This bold bet staggered the young man, but he 
had confidence and a thousand dollars, and he 
called. 

'T have four kings," he said, throwing them on 
the board. 

"Then I'll take the money," the millionaire re- 
plied. 'T have four aces," and he threw them 
down before the astonished eyes of the drummer. 

"That's all right," said the latter, as soon as he 
caught his breath. "That's all right — the money 

is yours, but — but — but Say! I'd like to 

know what the devil a queen has got to do with 
four aces !" 



CHAPTER XIX. 

reminiscences of william hurt, reformed john 

Dougherty's bet of Arizona territory — 
his adventures in persia. 

A professional gambler is naturally full of poker 
stories, but the trouble is that he does not care 
about telling them. Of all professional men the 
card player is least inclined to talk about his busi- 
ness. Amateurs will expatiate by the yard, but 
that is because he plays for the fun of it. It is 
only when a professional reforms that he indulges 
in reminiscences to any extent, and then it is sus- 
pected that he does not tell all he knows. 

William Hurt in his day was a famous player, 
and his experience extended all over the West, and 
he was no stranger to the East. He used to say 
that he had shuffled the papers all the way from 
the roughest mining camps to the most luxurious 
clubs. Mr. Hurt reformed, and one day when the 
conversation turned on poker and some one told 
about a game in the Pacific Club in San Francisco 
where a straight flush was held while another one 
was being played in the same room at another 
table, he turned loose and gave a rendition of the 
famous draws he had seen, and some of which he 
made. 

271 



272 JACK POTS. 

*'When I speak about great draws and big hands 
I refer of course to straight games," he said. 
''Nothing is strange in a crooked game. Every 
man around the table would hold five aces if you 
dealt them to him, and there would be nothing- 
remarkable about that; but, speaking about five 
aces, I knew of five aces being held in a square 
game. 

''In New Orleans, in one of the leading clubs, 
there is big poker going on every night, and there 
are only gentlemen in the game. At the begin- 
ning of the game each man takes $500 worth of 
chips, and no money passes at the table. The 
game is unlimited — that is, the limit is $5,000, but 
that is about the same as no limit. They always 
play with two decks, and while one is dealt the 
other is shufifled ready for the next deal. 

"One night four gentlemen were playing. One 
held a straight flush pat, and the other held three 
aces before the draw. They soon exhausted their 
$500 worth of chips and then bet their thousands. 
Finally the man with the three aces called for the 
draw. In the draw he got two more aces, making 
five aces in his hand. He showed his hand right 
away, saying there was evidently a mistake in the 
deck. • The man with the straight flush claimed the 
money. Then the two left the decision to the 
other gentlemen about the table and they decided 
the bets off. By a mistake the extra ace had been 



REMINISCENCES OF WILLIAM HURT. 273 

shifted from one deck to the other. Now, per- 
haps it wasn't so remarkable that one card should 
get into the wrong deck, but think of that ace 
being next to another ace and that these two aces 
should be dealt to a man who already held three 
aces in his hand. That's what you might call 
oceans of luck. 

''Once I was playing in a game in the Russ 
House in San Francisco, and I borrowed $500 to 
get into the game, by the way. One time when 
I was dealing a man across the table had aces up 
and I had a king full on queens. I knew what he 
had and I knew that there was another ace right 
at the bottom of the pack." 

Here one of the listeners suggested that Mr. 
Hurt was only to talk about square games. 

''Well, the draw was square," answered the re- 
formed gambler. "I knew what he had before the 
draw and I knew where a third ace lay in the deck. 
I didn't know what card I gave him when he called 
for one. Now, you know a man might play for a 
hundred years and not hand out that lonesome 
fourth ace right from the top of the pack. Well, 
that was where the fourth ace lay, and the fellow 
with his ace full broke me with my king full. That 
was as remarkable a draw as ever occurred. I 
knew the position of three of the aces and the card 
he drew was the fourth, to which I paid no atten- 
tion, because the chance that he would not get it 



2 74 JACK POTS. 

was sufficient for me to bet against. Another 
aggravating feature was that the man who loaned 
me the $500 thought I purposely played away his 
money and then divided with the other fellow. I 
guess he thinks so to this day, but I tell you I was 
a good deal more surprised than he was when I 
saw that ace full spread out on the table. 

''I held four tens pat in a game I was playing 
in at Sioux City," continued Mr. Hurt, when some 
one asked him his highest hand that ever was 
beaten. ''One of the men playing was very drunk 
and very reckless. He had been plunging all the 
time, betting high whether he had anything or not. 
Of course he won many pots by bluffing, because 
no one would call him for a big bet unless he was 
well heeled. I was waiting for a big hand, because 
I knew that as soon as it came I could break him. 

"My four tens came just at the right time. 
There was a jack pot and I had the first say. I 
opened it gently, say for $25, because I knew the 
drunken fellow would come back at me. He did 
with a big raise. I just called him, because I want- 
ed more play after the draw, and he was sure to 
bet everything he had. I looked over my hand as 
though in deep thought and then called for one 
card. T'll draw to the strength of my hand; give 
me three,' said the drunken man. 

''Then I made a heavy bet and he came at me 
harder. We kept at each other back and forth 



REMINISCENCES OF WILLIAM HURT. 275 

until all our money was on the table, and then I 
showed down my four tens. Blamed if he didn't 
skin out four queens! Of course I was the one 
that was broke. 

''I saw a square hand win in a crooked game in 
a club house in Butte City, Montana, and I'll tell 
you about it, if you insist upon something about 
crooked games when I want to tell you about 
square games. There were five men playing. Two 
of them were in together to do up another two, but 
they did not want to take anything from the fifth- 
fellow, who was a friend of theirs, though he did 
not know there was anything wrong about the 
game. 

"One of the two who were doing the dirty work 
rung in a cold deck, and he dealt great hands to 
the fellows who were to be skinned. One was four 
nines, I think, and the other a jack full. He was 
careful to give no pair to the man he wanted to 
befriend, and he dealt his partner the winning 
hand; or at least he thought it was the winning 
hand. Well, to the surprise of the men who had 
put up the cold deck, the fifth fellow with no pair 
stood right in and saw every raise. They didn't 
dare to kick him or even wink at him, so he piled 
his money in with the rest. 

"When it came to a show down there was $3,600 
on the table, and the fellow that had no pair won 
it all. The man that fixed the deck had paid no 



276 



JACK POTS. 



attention to suits; he was looking out only for 
pairs and threes and fours. He dealt the fifth man 
a four straight of clubs and the one card he drew 
made a straight flush. 

''The best draw I ever saw was in Olympia dur- 
ing a session of the Washington Legislature. One 
senator there was wild about poker. I suppose he 

had just learned 
the game and was 
infatuated; at anj^ 
rate he wanted to 
take off the bridle 
every handi To 
win a hundred on 
a bluf^.was worth 
a thousand to 
him. 

'Tn one game 
where this senator 
was sitting there 
was a hand on 
which there had 
been very heavy 
betting before the 
draw. The plunger was in, of course, and raised 
until all his money was up so there could be no 
betting after the draw. He put down his cards and 
I never saw a worse hand. He had no pair, not 
even a face card, and he was going to throw away 




'W^ 



" I'll draw to a straight flush," said he. 



REMINISCENCES OF WILLIAM HURT. 



2 "^ 7 



the bunch and call for five cards when he noticed 
that he held the nine and ten of clubs. 

'* Til draw to a straight flush/ said he; and do 
you know the three cards that came to him were 
all nines. Of course he then had four nines and 
raked in the pot. One man had three kings and 
another had a jack full. I think that was as re- 
markable as anything I ever saw in poker. 

''I made a rather good draw myself one day on 
the train coming from Fresno. Three of the gam- 
blers that work the Pullmans tried to get me to 
play cards. I 
knew their busi- 
ness as soon as I 
saw^ them, but as 
it happened they 
did not know me. 
Two of them 
were dressed as 
countrymen, and 
the third did the 
gentleman play. 
He looked as 
much like a gen- 
tleman as a bull- 
dog, by the way. 

'They started ,, 

"^ He looked as much like a gentleman as a bull dog. 

in the stale way, 

suggesting a game of euchre. One would remark 




-'78 JACK POTS. 

that he would hke to bet his euchre hand in a poker 
game and another would agree with him. Well, I 
consented to play euchre with them, but first I 
looked carelessly at their cards, and then went to 
my grip. I had a couple of packs of cards in my 
bag — not for poker; I never gambled on trains. 
Sometimes I made the acquaintance of gentlemen 
on trains and afterward played with them in their 
clubs or hotels, but on the trains I played nothing 
save an occasional game of whist. 

''I could not resist, however, attending to the 
case of those three train gamblers. I happened to 
have a pack just like the cards with which they 
w^ere playing and I took from it an ace. Then I 
joined in the game and bided my time. Then one 
of them finally said he'd like to bet his hand in 
poker, and the others said they'd agree to change 
the game, holding the hands dealt to them in 
euchre. I consented also and we bet our money. 
They bet all they had, including a roll of bogus 
bills, called 'spiels,' used for that sort of work. 
Then I showed down four aces and pocketed all 
the money. You should have heard them roar and 
kick when I took the pot ! 

"At Lathrop I saw a hotel runner I used to 
know. I pointed out to him the gamblers, and 
then I handed to him the roll of 'spiels' and told 
him to give it back to the fellows, but I kept the 
good money. 



REMINISCENCES OF WILLIAM HURT. 279 

'* 'Great Lord!' said the runner. 'Did them fel- 
lers try to skin you ?' 

" They did,' I answered, softly. 

" 'The fools!' said he. 'I put up half the money 
to stake 'em to make a winning on the train, and 
they played it ofif against Billy Hurt, taking him 
for a dude.' " 

Another famous gambler is John Dougherty — 
not reformed. In the palmy days of Tombstone, 
John first came to the surface and has been on 
the top wave ever since. He is known from East 
to West, but his chief stamping ground is in the 
territories, where his free and easy ways are not 
likely to cause so much remark. Dougherty never 
sat down and reeled off a lot of entertaining talk 
to a reporter, but he had adventures enough to 
make a book. 

In 1889 Dougherty sat down with a man named 
Ike Jackson, a wealthy cattle owner and great 
poker player of Colorado City, Texas, to determine 
the poker championship of the wild and woolly 
West. It w^as in Bowen's saloon in Santa Fe, New 
Mexico. There was no limit to the game and it 
was understood that both men were exceptionally 
well heeled. It was also understood that the game 
was perfectly on the square, as neither man was to 
be trifled with. 

They played along in a desultory way for hours, 
when finally both got good hands at the same time. 



28o JACK POTS. 

The betting then became fast and furious. More 
than a hundred citizens of Santa Fe, including 
every gambler in town, had gathered about to 
watch the progress of the game. Among them 
was Governor Prince, who knew and liked Dough- 
erty. After about $100,000 had been piled on the 
board the Texas man said to Dougherty that he 
w^as running a little short of money, but that he 
had a ranch and ten thousand head of cattle in 
Texas, and that he would like the privilege of mak- 
ing a deed of them, should it become necessary to 
bet $100,000 more. Dougherty replied that it was 
perfectly agreeable to him, but asked that the same 
privilege be granted to him if it became necessary 
to put up real estate as collateral in order to play 
his hand for what it was worth. Jackson assented, 
of course. 

After the Texan had exhausted all his ready cash 
and Dougherty came back at him with another 
raise, Jackson concluded to bring things to a finish. 
So he raised the Arizona man $100,000, throwing 
the deed to his Texas property into the pot. 

Dougherty called for pen and paper, and wrote 
hurriedly for a few minutes. Then, catching the 
Governor's eye, he beckoned him to one side, and 
before Prince knew what had happened he was 
looking down the barrel of a murderous 45-calibre 
revolver. 

"Now, Governor, you sign this," said Dough- 



REMINISCENCES OF WILLIAM HURT. 281 



erty, and he handed his excellency a paper that 
contained about a dozen lines of writing. ''Sign it, I 
say, or I will kill you. I like you and would fight 
for you, but I 
love my repu- 
tation as a 
poker player 
better than I do 
you or any one 
else." 

The Govern- 
or, w i t h o u t 
looking at the 
contents of the 
paper — in fact, 
he was pressed 
for time just then — nervous- 
ly attached his signature. 
Then, w^alking back to the 
table, Dougherty threw the 
paper in the pot, and said impressively as he did 
so : 'T raise you the Territory of New Mexico. 
There's the deed." 

The Texan of course had to lay down, but as he 
did so he muttered an oath that might have been 
heard in Lower California. Then, as he saw 
Dougherty rake in the big pot, Jackson gave a 
nervous twitch at his mustache and said : ''That's 
all right, Dougherty ; scoop it in, it's yours, but it's 
a damn good thing for you that Jim Hogg, the 
governor of Texas, isn't here !" 




" Now, Governor, you sign this,' 
said Dougherty. 



282 JACK POTS. 

Ill those days Dougherty would not go into a 
game unless the other players could show at least 
$10,000 each. There was nothing small about him 
but his feet. When he ordered a drink he threw 
a fiver on the counter, and if any change was 
offered him he felt insulted. But hard times struck 
the West, and poker — that is, poker of the Dough- 
erty stripe — became a scarce article. So w^hen he 
got down to his last $50,000 he, emigrated to New 
York. While there he learned that in Persia the 
young men played poker fairly well, and when they 
got a hand that amounted to anything they bet it 
until the cows came home. That was the kind of 
gam'e Dougherty was looking for, and so to Persia 
he went, or he says he did, and we'll have to let it 
go at that. 

He had no trouble in being introduced to Per- 
sian poker circles, and he was soon a popular fel- 
low, even among the princes, although he could 
not talk the language of the country. He also had 
to learn a great deal that was new to him in the 
way of poker. Four deuces beat four aces, a ''lit- 
tle dog" topped a sequence, and there were several 
other wrinkles that caused him to open his eyes. 
Again, there is never any money in sight. A man 
sits near the table and^ records the bets, and a set- 
tlement is made after the game is over. This book- 
keeper, or whatever they call him, is also a linguist, 
and whenever foreigners play with these princes he 
translates the raises and such like. 



REMINISCENCES OF WILLIAM HURT. 2S3 

Well, one night Dougherty had 1)een trailing in 
only to be beaten on the show clown. Finally he 
caught a pair of sixes at the time one of the princes 
had four of a kind. There had been a deal of jolly- 
ing and horse-play going on all night, and Dough- 
erty, of course, couldn't understand the words that 
were being slung around, but he laughed as heart- 
ily as the others and always looked intensely inter- 
ested. He would simply skin his cards, come in 
when the notion struck him or lay down. When 
he picked up the sixes he looked the Persian in the 
eye and the Persian laughed. 

''Tre-le-lu," said the Persian. 

"Guying me, I reckon," said Dougherty to him- 
self; "but ril give you some of your own sort of 
w^ords. Tru-le-lum," he said aloud. 

''Tru-le-lili-lo," said the Persian. 

"Tru-le-lele-lili-lole-lum," replied Dougherty. 

Scarcely had he got the words out of his mouth 
when the young prince threw down his four of a 
kind, kicked over the table, fell forward on a sofa 
and broke out in a sob. 

''Great heavens, man !" exclaimed the interpre- 
ter. ''You raised him eleven millions that time!" 

Of course Dougherty raked in the pot, and thus 
having mastered the language he was so successful 
that when he left Persia he was rich beyond the 
wildest dreams of avarice. But he bet it all on the 
elections and lost. 



CHAPTER XX. 

now THE BEAR SPOILED THE JACK POT TOUCHING 

TALE OF A DOG THAT TIPPED OFF POKER 
HANDS TO HIS MASTER. 

It is no doubt a slander, but people will persist 
in saying that when a party of men go on a fishing 
trip they never start with less than a gallon of liquid 
refreshment in a jug, and this statement has also 
been made about hunters. There may be some 
truth in these stories, but there is certainly no 
doubt that no expedition was ever properly 
equipped without a pack of cards. I don't mean 
a party of boys going after woodchuck, but from 
two to a dozen of nice men who have had experi- 
ence and know that there is bound to come a few 
rainy days, when it is much better for the lungs to 
stay under the tent and shuffle the pasteboards than 
go tramping after game that has too much sense 
to be abroad. 

It is about one of those sensible hunting trips 
that this story treats. It was a California affair, 
and the inciting cause of the hunt was a grizzly 
bear which was supposed to linger around Mono 
Lake. The party comprised Alex McGregor, Jim 
Watts, Manuel Lopez and Sing Wong — the latter 
a servitor — and they pitched a tent near the lake 

23^ 



THE BEAR SPOILED THE JACK POT. 285 

to have four weeks fun, but, as the Fates willed it, 
the fun was all crowded into one week and there 
was lots to spare. We will let McGregor tell the 
story. . / 

''You see, Jim Watts had some notions of his 
own about how to have a good time in camp, and 
when we were putting up our stufif for the trip Jim 
said it wouldn't do for a man to make too radical 
a change in his way of life, and for his part he 
didn't propose to break up his constitution by 
chopping wood or going to bed at an unseemly 
hour. So he piled in a coal-oil lamp, a deck of 
cards arid a four-gallon can of kerosene. We had 
plenty of beans, and Sing was cautioned to reserve 
from the pot enough to furnish chips for a pretty 
stiff game. 

"We pitched our tent on the bank of a little 
stream and got fixed up in shape, and I regret to 
say that owing to the pernicious counsels and ad- 
vice of Watts we did no hunting, but sat up all 
night playing poker and slept every day until noon. 
Sing did all the work except taking care of the 
horses, which a Chinaman can't do. Manuel did 
that, and we allowed him the kitty for it. It came 
in very handy, because he had the worst kind of 
luck, and went broke regularly. -every night. 

''One night we had a fine game going on and 
were playing for a jack pot which had gone around 
four times. I had an opening hand. Manuel had 



286 



JACK POTS. 



something good, and Watts wanted only one card. 
Just as we were calling for cards Sing jumped up 

with a yell from his 

blankets at the back 

of the tent and 

stampeded right 

over our game, 

knocking the oil 

can, on which we 

were playing, 

wrong end up 

and scattering 

the beans all 

around. 

''Manuel 
pulled his re- 
volver and was 
about to take a 
shot at Sing, 
when we heard 
a growl, and turning our 
heads saw the gray muz- 
zle of a grizzly poked 
through the back of the 
tent into the syrup dish. 
Manuel was mad clear 
through, and crying 
'Dama you, spoila such a pot like him! Carajo!' 
he popped at the bear's head. 




\\\v 

Sing jumped up with a yell. 



THE BEAR SPOILED THE JACK POT. 287 

'Then we all got up and went out of the tent. 
I was in a considerable hurry and took the front 
tent pole with me, and Jim tripped over the lamp 
en route. The bear came in rather hastily at the 
back and knocked down the other tent pole. That 
brought down the whole arrangement about his 
ears, and in two seconds there w^as more fun than 
a barrel of monkeys in that camp. 

'The lamp broke and exploded when it fell, and 
evidently the plug had fallen out of the oil can, 
for everything was ablaze in no time. Old Bruin — 
for we discovered afterward by the club-foot tracks 
that he was- the disturber — got tangled up in the 
burning tent, and in rolling about he sopped up a 
good deal of the oil. While he was slamming 
things around like a fully developed earthquake 
we stood at a safe distance and plugged revolver 
bullets into the muss, which didn't improve the 
bear's temper. 

"It was probably less than a minute when he 
came out of the ruins, blazing like a Fourth of July 
celebration. His oil-soaked hair w^as on fire in 
patches and pieces of burning canvas hung about 
him like streamers. And of all the howling and 
roaring I ever heard that was the worst. The old 
fellow just stormed around that camp, clawing at 
the fire, tearing the canvas with his teeth, and belt- 
ing everything that came in his way. When he'd 
swing a paw and hit a tree the bark would fly up 
ten feet. 



288 



JACK POTS. 



''When he came into view Manuel and I shinned 
up two tall trees and Sing crawled into a hollow- 
log and kept quiet, but Jim Watts stood there like 
a chump and watched the circus. We couldn't 
kill the bear because our guns were in the tent 

and were being 
burned up, and 
revolvers were of 
no account 
against a beast in 
such tantrums. 
Watts did pepper 
him, though, and 
got into trouble 
for doing it. His 
bullets finally at- 
tracted Bruin's 
attention and he made 
a rush for the daring 
marksman. 

'Then Watts con- 
cluded to leave that lo- 
cality. He didn't have 
time to pick out a 
route. He just had to scoot, and he made a suc- 
cess of it. He headed for the bank of the creek, 
which was about ten feet higher th^n the water, 
with the illuminated bear in hot pursuit. There 
was no chance to dodge or turn, and W^atts took 




He came out of the ruin blazing like 
a Fourth of July. 



THE BEAR SPOILED THE JACK POT. 289 

the leap. He struck feet first about twenty feet 
from the bank, and went down ker-chunk. 

"He came up to breathe just as old Bruin piled 
over the bank and fell into the water with a splash 
and a sizzle. Watts then swam under water and 
crawled silently out in a dark place. Old Bruin 
kept straight across and landed on the opposite 
bank. His plunge had extinguished him and he 
was blazing only with wrath, so he tore away 
through the brush, growling and making the bark 

"Watts came back to camp, and when we gath- 
ered around the burning ruins of our once happy 
home he showed up a bobtail flush, which he had 
held in his left hand all the time, and said : 'Wasn't 
that a dandy hand to draw to in a jack pot?' " 

When the lower order of animals are spoken of 
the mind naturally reverts to the dog. To those 
who have not studied the habits of that sagacious 
and noble animal the following story will sound 
fishy, but dog fanciers will readily concede its truth, 
and could no doubt match it with others much 
more wonderful. It rests on the authority of a 
gentleman who made his appearance at the hotel 
clerk's desk, while that individual was counting a 
large roll of bills. 

His attire was a sort of black drapery, and fell 
about his lean form in folds that a decorator might 
envy. He had a week's growth of anarchistic bris- 
tles on his dirty though good-natured phiz, and his 



290 



JACK POTS. 



left eye had a peculiar squint that suggested a lat- 
ent knowledge of 
something or other. 
As the shadow fell 
across the desk the 
clerk looked up and 
asked what was want- 
ed. The visitor 
leaned easily 
against the 
desk, adjusted 
a greasy tie 
that showed a 
disposition to 
keep company 
with his right 
ear, and said in a 
confidential tone : 
''I might not 
look it, but I'm a 
college graduate. 
You may marvel 
at the state of my 
toilet, but since 
leaving the old home in 
Maine I have had some 
very strange experi- 
ences." 

" 1 might not look it, but I'm a college The clcrk DUt awaV the 

graduate." -l v- ^ j 

bills in the safe and then became an active listener. 




THE BEAR SPOILED THE JACK POT. 291 

''You see," continued the stranger, ''being a col- 
lege graduate I thought I had a head for engineer- 
ing and went West to prospect in silver mines. 
Then I drifted north into the Montana gold fields, 
where I settled in Lone Gulch on Bloody Run. 
There I published the Lone Gulch Advocate for 
two months. I forget now what I advocated, but 
I remember that I printed a true story one day 
about a prominent official. In twenty-four hours 
thereafter I was going down the gulch like a long- 
distance runner. 

''While filling the important position of opinion 
moulder on the Advocate a friend of mine comes 
in one day and says: 'Bill, I have a valuable dog. 
He can waltz, he can sing and he can play on the 
piano, but I want a drink and I'll soak him to you 
for a dime.' 

"So I takes the canine and he followed me here, 
there and everywhere. Being generally short of 
cash I had to keep moving, and finally I came to 
a place where they w^ere building a big irrigating 
ditch, and there I got a job. I found quite a num- 
ber of college graduates like myself, and at the 
end of the first week when we were paid off we sat 
down to a quiet game of poker. 

"As soon as the cards were dealt I noticed 
Calamity (that's the dog) take a quiet w^alk around 
the crowd and then come back and crawl under 
my chair. Presently I felt something bump 



292 JACK POTS. 

against my legs. I looked under the table and 
doggone if that dog wasn't knocking his head 
against me in the most systematic way. I didn't 
know at first what to make of it, and at the next 
deal I watched him closer. Then I saw that he 
was taking tab of the other fellows' cards. He 
just seemed to peek once out of the corner of his 
eye, and then apparently wrote it down in his mind. 

''When he got under my chair again and began 
to bump me with his head I paid strict attention, 
and soon made out the code. You see, he'd tap 
me lightly at first to show which player he meant ; 
one tap signified the first man to my left, two taps 
the next man, and so on. Having given me that 
cue, he'd scratch me with one paw to show that 
the fellow held a king, twice if it was a queen, hug 
me with his paw if it was a jack, and with both 
paws if it was an ace. Then he'd bump my leg 
twice if the man held a pair, three times for threes, 
and so on. There was much more of the code, 
which I only learned after several sittings, but I've 
told you enough to show you what a lollah he 
was." 

''But didn't the signaling consume lots of time?" 
asked the clerk, suspiciously. 

"No, indeed; not a bit of it. Calamity was a 
very rapid sender, and after I got onto his style 
it was easy. I'm a pretty good telegrapher myself, 
and thirty seconds after the dog went around the 



THE BEAR SPOILED THE JACK POT. 293 

table I'd know the hands of every man in the game. 
I could always manage to delay the betting half a 
minute, you see." 

''Remarkable dog, wasn't he? Well, sir, I beat 
all of the boys out of their coin, and my success 
was so marked that they finally suspected me of 
being a professional, and run me out of camp. But 
I didn't mind that, and pretty soon I was cutting a 
swath all through the West. I got so I wouldn't 
play with any one but a millionaire or railroad 
president." 

''Very remarkable story," said the hotel clerk. 
"But you don't look like you hurt your back carry- 
ing around any of the coin now." 

"Lost it all in speculating in grain," replied the 
stranger, with a sigh. 

"And where's Calamity?" 

"Dead. I was taken ill with the toothache one 
night and couldn't play. Calamity missed me, but 
such w^as his thirst for poker that he went into the 
room and began butting another fellow. He didn't 
understand the code, and being just then a heavy 
loser, arose in his wrath and kicked the dog out of 
the second-story window, and he broke his neck. 
I wouldn't take a million dollars for that dog." 



CHAPTER XXL 

PRACTICAL JOKING HOW THE DENTIST WAS FIXED 

THE FRESH BASEBALL REPORTER AND THE PLAYERS. 

Although poker is a social game it is not one 
wherein practical jokes are encouraged. It has 
been discovered that there is more fun when every- 
body attends strictly to business, barring the few 
pleasantries that may be exchanged in the way of 
badinage, and which are frequently useful when 
one is running a bluff. Yet there are periods when 
a joke can be worked successfully without danger 
of making an enemy for life. 

Several traveling men were sitting around the 
stove in a country tavern one night, wondering 
what to do to pass away the evening before the 
hour of retiring, and one man suggested a game 
of penny ante. The suggestion met with favor, 
and on being broached to the landlord he said he 
didn't mind and would join them if they had no 
objection. They said he would be very welcome. 

''You mustn't nary one of ye breathe a word of 
this to my old woman, cos if she hearn tell that I 
wuz a-playin' of cards she'd naturally everlastingly 
bang me over the head," cautioned the landlord, 
and the men cautiously climbed the stairs to a back 
room. Abe, the boy of all work, brought up the 

294 



PRACTICAL JOKING. 295 

rear of the procession, carrying a big jug of cider. 

The landlord had no chips, but he produced a 
peck measure of wooden buttons, such as women 
used to cover and wear on their dresses for orna- 
ment. Each man took a hundred of these for a 
dollar, and the game began. It proceeded along 
with much enjoyment until about 10 o'clock, when 
one of the traveling men excused himself for a 
moment but soon returned to the game, having his 
pockets filled with just such wooden buttons as 
were used for chips. These were put into the game 
without the knowledge of the landlord. At the 
close of the game he settled in full for every chip, 
but when he came to brush the buttons back into 
the peck measure he found that he had more than 
enough to fill it. 

He regarded the measure for a minute with won- 
der and then he said, scratching his head : ''Gripes, 
but that durn measure must have shrinked like the 
devil." 

The traveling men engaged in an argument over 
the mystery, but did not elucidate it until their next 
visit, and then they paid the landlord about two 
dollars and called it square. 

Here is another tale of how a man was skinned 
in a friendly way. To correctly tell the tale it is 
necessary to first state that the game occurred in 
a barber shop which was situated on the second 
floor of a prominent building in a small city. 



296 JACK POTS. 

The barber, who was the proprietor of the shop, 
was the banker, and to identify him his name shall 
be Dan. Others in the g'ame were a young lawyer 
whose first name w^as Sidney, a traveling man 
known as Frank and a young society man whose 
Christian name was Harold. These four gathered 
at the tonsorial parlors at the time vulgarly known 
as the shank of the evening. A small round table 
was pulled out from a back room, the curtains were 
pulled down and the lights turned up and the game 
began. 

About the time everybody had got his toes warm 
the banker realized that he was up against it, and 
he was starting in to cuss his luck when a feeble 
tap was heard at the door. This was the private 
signal, but the players supposed that they were, the 
only ones in possession of it. It must be the police 
and horrid visions of a night behind the bars filled 
their minds. 

Quietly the cards were hidden, the table shoved 
to one side, and all the participants were busily 
engaged reading newspapers or books when Dan 
went to the door. The outsider was a well-known 
character about town, known as Doc, because he 
was a dentist. He also had the reputation of being 
a man that knew everything that was going on. 
He could always tell where everyone was and 
seemed to know everyone's business. On this 
occasion he explained that he just happened to 



• PRACTICAL JOKIXG. 297 

think that the boys might be playing poker, and 
he was just dying to take a hand in the game. 
Incidentally he mentioned that he had a roll of bills 
in his pocket that he didn't mind losing provided 
there was a man in the room clever enough to take 
it from him. 

They made a place for the intruder with no very 
good grace. This feeling rather increased after 
nine or ten hands, when no one seemed to get so 
much as a peek at Doc's bank roll. On the con- 
trary, everything was traveling his way with mad- 
dening regularity. Harold in particular was 
worked up over this state of affairs, and while he 
was sitting there like a dead man passing out his 
chips and never taking one in he conceived the 
idea of working a little joke on Doc and also get- 
ting even. 

Calling Dan into the back room on some flimsy 
excuse he advised him of his scheme and how work 
was to be started to put it into execution. Then 
Dan took Sidney to one side and quietly told him 
of the plan and the part he was to play in it. Frank 
kept up his end by getting into an interesting col- 
loquy with Doc over the latest scandal in high 
life, and there is always at least one in a small 
town. 

The arrangements having been perfected, all sat 
down again to the game. The cards w^ere dealt, 
the betting went on and the demon dentist again 



2gB 



JACK POTS. 



swept the table of all the little red, white and blue 
representations of money. 

''Let's make the next one a jack pot," said Har- 
old. 

"All right," responded Doc, carelessly. ''I can 
win a little quicker in jacks." 

Dan, to whom fell the deal, made ready and shuf- 
fled the cards. 
Frank cut 
them, and Dan 
was just about 
to distribute 
the pasteboards 
when Sidney 
uttered a low 
moan as if 
gasping for 
breath and fell backward ofT 
his chair, apparently striking 
heavily on the floor. In- 
stantly everyone was on his 
feet, hurrying to the aid of 
the supposedly injured man. That is, everyone ex- 
cept Dan, who lingered long enough to substitute 
a cold deck of cards for those in use. 

Then he joined in with the others, and between 
them they had Sidney on a lounge, rubbed his 
hands and gave him a drink of water. He rapidly 
revived, and explained that he had been subject to 




Dan lingered long enough to 

substitute a cold deck 

of cards. 



PRACTICAL JOKING. 299 

these attacks for a year past, but he had been as- 
sured by his physician that they were not danger- 
ous, and that he was perfectly able to continue 
playing. 

So he sat dow^n to the table, the cards were dealt 
and the conspirators kicked each other as they saw 
a smile of pleasure spread over the face of the in- 
tended victim. 

'Til open it," said Doc promptly, as he shoved 
a stack of ten chips on the table. 

Fr^nk and Sidney scrutinized their hands and 
announced that the pace was too hot for them. 
Harold added five to Doc's ten and Dan went five 
better. Doc tried to look as if he were surprised, 
and simply saw the raises. \Mien it came to the 
draw he hummed and hawed for a while and then 
concluded he would take one card. Harold took 
one card and Dan two. 

It being Doc's first bet he bet five chips as a 
feeler. Harold raised it five and Dan raised him. 
Doc smiled in a satisfied way and lifted it up about 
twenty. To his surprise he was lifted as much in 
return. Then there was an epidemic of raising; 
everyone seemed furiously certain of their hand, 
and no one would call. Frank and Sidney looked 
on and seemed paralyzed with wonderment. 

Dan, being the banker, had plenty of chips w^ith 
which he and Harold covered all of Doc's good 
money and in the end Doc's money ran out and he 



300 JACK POTS. 

had to call. This being agreeable to the other 
players Dan laid down a pair of queens and three 
tens. 

*'Was that what you were betting on?" inquired 
Doc. ''That hand looks like a foot. I haven't 
got much here; only two little aces, with two more 
to keep them company." 

Then he smiled a broad smile as he made prep- 
arations to gather in the big pile of money and 
chips. But he forgot that Harold was still to be 
heard from. 

''Carefully, Doc," said the society leader. "Drop 
that or you might break it. Your aces are not so 
warm in this game." 

"You don't mean" stammered Doc. 

"That I can beat them? Take a look at these." 

Doc gazed at the straight flush spread out be- 
fore him and then at the agonizing spectacle of 
Harold calmly raking in the pot, and then he arose 
and left the room without uttering a word. The 
next day his money was returned to him and he 
was informed that he had been skinned. And he 
never heard the last of it. 

Baseball men are famous poker players, and very 
naturally so. Although we occasionally hear a wail 
about the way the "magnates" oppress the poor 
players, buy and sell them, and otherwise woe- 
fully put on them, it is noticed that they do not go 
out of the business until they are knocked out. 



PRACTICAL JOKING. 301 

The truth is that they are the best paid class of 
men in any business, making more in a season of 
six month than the average professional man does 
in a year. Then again, their work is play; some- 
thing that they would do for fun if no one hired 
them to do it. They travel in first-class cars, put 
up at first-class hotels, play only when the weather 
is fine, and a day's work for them is less than four 
hours. 

\\'ith these advantages it is no wonder that they 
are inclined to be sportive and wile away their off 
hours with cards. At the same time it is not to 
be inferred that they are high rollers; there is no 
case on record where a ball player has got his 
name in the papers for making a gigantic winning. 
It is all between themselves and at the end of the 
season no player's bank roll is very much depleted. 
When an outsider gets into their game he is apt to 
have a peculiar tale to tell. 

"When I started out as a baseball correspondent 
in — never mind the year," said the sporting editor, 
'T considered myself as smart as any young man 
could be. I was personally acquainted with all the 
players and was admitted to their confidences, con- 
sequently I thought I was the whole thing. . 

"When we arrived at the first city where the club 
was scheduled to play it rained and the game was 
declared off. Time weighed heavily and a game 
of poker was suggested. Of course I had to be in 



302 JACK POTS. 

It. just to show that I was sporty. There were six 
in the party beside myself, all finished players, but 
I happened to be in luck, and as a man will do 
in such circumstances I ascribed it all to my skill 
and forced the play. 

''Finally a nice jack pot was on the board and 
the first man that had a say opened it. I looked at 
my hand and saw a combination of cards that ordi- 
narily would be thrown into the deck. But I made 
up my mind to make a star play, and immediately 
boosted the pot. The others stayed, but when it 
came to drawing cards I stood pat. The opener 
bet and I raised with an air of confidence that 
threw the others ofT and they dropped. The 
opener had not bettered his hand and he also quit. 

"Everything would have been all right had I 
simply thrown my hand into the pot, but I was so 
delighted at having bluffed so clever a lot that I laid 
the cards face upwards on the table, at the same 
time giving one of those idiotic chuckles that a 
youngster w^ll when he thinks he has fooled men 
older and more clever than himself. I saw an ex- 
change of glances go around that I mistook for 
admiration, but which I afterward learned was a 
silent comment on my freshness. 

''Nothing further transpired at the game and I 
quit a winner. A few days later we reached Cin- 
cinnati for the Fourth of July games, and being a 
day ahead of time, a game was arranged with a 



PRACTICAL JOKING. 303 

local club in a near-by town. We started early in 
the morning, there being a dozen in the party, in- 
cluding the manager and myself. We were in the 
smoker, and as soon as the train started the boys 
began skylarking, much to the edification of the 
other passengers, who were mostly country folk. 

**I was enjoying the fun immensely when sud- 
denly I found myself in the hands of a half dozen 
players, and in a twinkling almost they had 
stripped me of all my outer garments. Here was 
a pleasant predicament for a fashionable young 
man ! I had a light overcoat with me, and with 
that I covered myself as best I could, but to get up 
and look for my clothes in that attire was more 
than I had the courage to do. I called appealingly 
to the manager but he was at the other end of the 
coach and apparently deeply engrossed in a news- 
paper. When the conductor came along he simply 
gave me the laugh and passed by. 

'Then a chorus came from the players: 'Why 
don't you bluff it out ?' Then I realized why I was 
getting the dose. 

''I rode for about fifteen minutes in that shape 
and then my clothes were suddenly dumped on 
me, all nicely tied into knots. I had a great deal 
of trouble in getting them on, but I took it all 
good naturedly, for what else could I do? But 
they had not finished with me yet. 

"When we reached our destination it lacked an 



304 



JACK POTS. 



hour before dinner and some of the players went 
driving, while the rest lounged around the hotel. 
Presently one of the players returned riding a nag 
of the coach variety, apparently about as docile as 
a cow. The rider announced that he was tired 
already of such a hard riding beast (I learned after- 




*' He must have been a circus horse at one time." 



ward that he was a splendid horseman) and in- 
vited me to take his place. 

"I wasn't much of a rider, but to show that I 
bore no hard feelings for the morning's perform- 
ance, I mounted the horse, and instantly some one 
gave him a thundering slap, and away he went. 
He must have been a circus horse at one period 
because I never saw one carry on the way he did. 
He appeared to go most of the time only on one 



PRACTICAL JOKING. 305 

leg, and I was almost shaken to pieces. I finally 
got him into a walk, and was thinking of return- 
ing to the hotel when a buggy was driven up rap- 
idly behind me and I heard the swish of a whip as it 
fell on my horse's haunches. He was ofif like a shot 
and I held on with all fours. The buggy kept up 
with me however and the whip continued to fall. 
1 had just time to look around and see the laughing 
faces of two of the players when my horse swerved 
into a side road and the buggy passed on. 

"Well, I finally got the infernal animal under 
control again, and rode him back to the hotel, 
but I was so sore that I could not sit down to 
dinner with any degree of comfort. The boys did 
not ask me anything about my adventures, but 
they talked a great deal about card playing, and 
how a player who could carry through a grand 
bluff was sure to beat the game. I didn't join in 
the conversation, but I smiled an occasional sickly 
smile to show that I bore no malice. 

''The final chapter in the hazing, for such it was, 
came a week later. We were in St. Louis, and 
after the first game, I went with about four of the 
boys to a variety theatre. Among the performers 
was a singer who styled herself La Belle Clarisse, 
or something like that, who had fluffy hair, and 
looked very attractive in the glare of the footlights. 
We applauded her enthusiastically, thereby attract- 
ing her attention and she smiled sweetly on us. 



3o6 JACK POTS. 

"One of the boys professed to know her, at any 
rate he sent her a note by the waiter, and after the 
show she came to our table. The Hghts had been 
turned down by that time and she looked and 
talked charmingly. An invitation was extended to 
her to witness the next day's game, and I was de- 
lighted w^hen I was designated as her escort. In 
my verdancy I congratulated myself at being thus 
honored, and pictured myself creating a furore 
w^hen I escorted that beautiful being to the ball 
grounds and past the envious multitude. 

''But I was grievously disenchanted when I went 
to her boarding house next day and saw La Belle. 
The bright sunlight was different from the foot- 
lights and she appeared to have aged about twenty- 
five years since the night before. Her fluffy hair 
was gone and her face was seamed and sallow, and 
there was also a tough look about her mouth that 
I had not previously noticed. But there was no 
chance to back out. There she was all togged out, 
so gay that you could see her a mile off, and I had 
to take her. 

"Oh, how I suffered ! Instead of creating a 
furore I attracted attention of another kind. 
Everybody looked at us, to be sure, but not in the 
way I fancied. The few acquaintances I had made 
ignored me, and I would have been isolated if it 
had not been for the players. They did not forget 
me. They took every opportunity of grouping in 



PRACTICAL JOKING. 307 

front of the stand where we sat and grinning at 
us in a way that focused all eyes in our vicinity. 
I sat the game through, but I had alternate cold 
chills and hot sweats all the time, and after I had 
escorted La Belle home, I made a solemn vow 
never to be fresh again. The players evidently 
thought that I had been properly educated, for 
they let up on me thereafter. Another result of my 
experience was that I never bluffed in a poker 
game afterwards — that is, I never let any one 
know that I did." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

CROOKED GAMBLING AN EXPERT EXPLAINS THE 

MYSTERIES OF SECOND CARD, PAPER MEN 
AND HOLD OUTS. 

There is no pleasure at all in playing poker un- 
less it is on the square. If a man in addition to 
bending all his mind to the proper playing of his 
hand has also to watch his opponent to see that 
he does not cheat, he may win a little money at the 
game but he certainly cannot extract much fun 
from the pastime. Fortunately for the popularity 
of the game it is not easy to cheat at poker. 
Doubtless there are a number of players who have 
the incHnation but they lack the skill. To stack a 
pack or even slip a card requires sleight of hand 
that cannot be mastered without years of practice, 
and it will not do to cheat unless it can be done 
without detection. No amateur player cares to 
be thrown out of a window or booted down the 
stairs. 

The amateur player who would cheat if he could 
illustrates his weakness by the way he tries to put 
up the cards. \Mien he is out of a deal, he will 
gather together the discard and sort out the aces, 
kings or other high cards, and bunch them, so that 
if the cards are not well shuffled on the next deal 

308 



CROOKED GAMBLING. 309 

there is a chance of catching three of a kind on 
the draw. He watches the shuffle and cut very 
closely, and regulates his draw by what he can re- 
member of the position of the cards, and if the 
cards are given him to cut, he cuts them light or 
deep so as to give him the best chance of getting 
the stacked cards. 

These and a number of other little devices which 
are familiar to poker players, are not exactly cheat- 
ing, but they are efforts to gain some advantage 
over the other players, independent of the natural 
run of the cards. It is pleasant to record that the 
players who resort to such tricks are not remark- 
able for their winnings. Their calculations fre- 
quently go wrong and then they come to grief in 
a way that is a source of merriment to the men who 
are content to play the game strictly on its merits. 

It would be an interesting sight to run some of 
these fellows up against a professional card sharp, 
and see how they would get skinned.^ Their money 
would not be worth two cents on the dollar, be- 
cause the professional leaves nothing to chance. 

Professional gamblers may have a home but 
they do not stay there. They are continually trav- 
eling from place to place, continually looking for a 
game. They work a town for a week or maybe a 
month, and then, when the atmosphere begins to 
be lurid they move on. That gives an opening for 
another professional to work the town, with a dif- 



3IO JACK POTS. 

ferent kind of game. There is a sucker born every 
minute. 

Professionals usually travel in pairs, under the 
guise of legitimate business agents or as wealthy 
pleasure seekers. They have letters of introduction 
from prominent people — bogus, of course — and as 
a result they are introduced into fashionable clubs, 
and subsequently into the game. Unlike amateurs, 
who are prone to brag of their winnings, the pro- 
fessional will try to hide his gains, and very often 
will claim to be loser when, in reality he has won 
many dollars. 

There are a hundred ways of cheating, mechan- 
ical and otherwise, but the most of them cannot be 
used successfully except in a room and on a table 
fitted up for that purpose, and these are found only 
hi crooked gambling joints. The most skillful 
gamblers rely on the dexterity of their fingers, and 
carry no appHances that might come to light un- 
expectedly and put them in a very awkward plight. 
Some are known as ''paper men" others as "hold 
outs," while more are called ''second dealers." 
They all, of course, have a general knowledge of 
the various methods of cheating, but they excel, as 
a rule, in some one of these systems. A retired 
gambler, who, in his day was the most skilled "sec- 
ond dealer" in the country, explains these methods 
very entertainingly. 

"It took me more than four years of hard prac- 



CROOKED GAMBLING. 3^1 

tice to learn how to deal seconds properly. A 'sec- 
ond dealer' is a man who can deal cards from any 
part of the pack without detection, so that, prev- 
ious to the players drawing cards he skilfully slips 
his thumb along the bottom of the pack and 
catches a glimpse of the cards to be dealt. If he 
sees anything he needs he can deal it to himself 
as easily as if it were on the top of the pack. If 
he has a partner he will know by signs just exactly 
what he wants, and if he can't give it to him he 
will motion to him to stay out. 

'*If his partner has a pair he will look through 
the pack, and if he observes the other pair of the 
same he will make a sign to his partner, who will 
thereupon raise the price to draw cards. As a rule, 
partners sit together when they play, so that one 
can cut to the other's liking, and this is in itself 
a science, for the man cutting the cards will do it 
to the satisfaction of the whole board, as he ap- 
parently mixes them up, while in reality he does 
not disturb his partner's prearranged cards. 

*'In this instance the man who cuts the cards 
would naturally be the last to get cards, and his 
partner has an easy thing giving him what he 
wants. When he is first to get cards, it is different. 
It is rather difficult to pull two cards from difTerent 
parts of the pack, and then all eyes are watching 
the dealer when he is giving out the first cards. 
So, while holding the pack in his left hand just be- 



312 JACK POTS. 

fore starting to deal to those drawing, he will find 
some pretext for reaching his right hand across the 
table, and in this manner he will momentarily hide 
the deck. In fhat instant he will shift with his 
fingers one of the cards his partner needs to the 
top of the pack. He will repeat this movement 
the same as before, and bring the other card on 
top. His partner will draw three cards and will, 
of course, get four of a kind." 

The gambler then showed how he could bring 
cards from the center to the top of the pack. Hold- 
ing the pack in his left hand as if about to deal, 
he would shove his forefinger between the deck 
and right above the card he was to bring on top. 
He would then raise his forefinger, thereby lifting 
the cards above it, and then with the middle finger 
he would slide the wanted card out about half an 
inch toward his fingers. Then he would press down 
on the card and in this manner raise it outside the 
pack. He would then remove his forefinger, 
thereby allowing the cards to fall back again. The 
needed card would be standing on its side outside 
the pack, and it would then be an easy matter to 
shift it on top of the pack. In fact, the whole 
operation looked easy enough until tried, and then 
it became very difficult. 

'Taper men," explained this expert, "are men 
who make a specialty of reading cards. They have 
a system of marking the backs of cards so that 



CROOKED GAMBLING. 313 

they can tell all the aces, kings, queens, jacks, and 
eventually the whole pack, if it is used long enough. 
This knowledge of course gives them a tremen- 
dous advantage, especially in a two handed game, 
for they can tell just what the other player has by 
looking at the backs of his cards. 

'Til never forget the first time I had an expe- 
rience with a paper man. I was in a Denver saloon 
one day, and a fat stranger with whom I had 
struck up an acquaintance suggested a game of 
poker. I accepted the proposition with pleasure, 
and we retired to an ante room for the sport. Be- 
fore we had been playing very long I discovered 
that my friend w^as using a pack of readers. I had 
given him a few good hands, but he wouldn't play, 
for of course he could see that I had a better hand, 
so I made up my mind to fool him. 

''It finally came to my deal w^hen there was a 
pretty good jack pot. I had lost a little money 
and I now set about getting it back with interest. 
So I stacked my fat friend three aces and gave 
myself three kings. After I had given out the two 
hands I laid down the deck, and the top card was 
an ace. Directly under the ace I had a five of 
clubs and the six of clubs and a king under that. 

"When the fellow saw the ace on top he smiled, 
for he knew that he had four aces sure. He opened 
the pot for a small amount and I gave it a lift. He 
came back at me with another raise, and we kept 



314 JACK POTS. 

it up, until he finally said that he had only a little 
money left to bet with, for he wanted some fun 
after the draw. I guess he thought I must be soft 
with my poor kings up against his three and as 
good as four aces. 

"Well, he drew one and I gave him the five of 
clubs. I took two myself, taking my king and his 
ace. As I ex2ected, he drew in the card without 
looking at it, shoved it under his other four, and 
then said, with a broad smile: ''Now, I'll bet all 
I have," and he threw out the few remaining dol- 
lars he had. I covered it, and called him. 

" 'I have four aces,' he replied, as he turned up 
his hand, and then when he saw the cards he ut- 
tered an awful oath, and shouted: 'Well, I'll be 
damned if they didn't change right before my 
very eyes !' 

" 'I know they did,' I said, as I pocketed the 
coin, 'and your paper isn't worth two cents a pound 
playing with me ;' and I left the place $500 richer 
for that transaction. 

"Paper men have many ways of marking cards. 
Some of them carry a small machine which is at- 
tached to their finger and resembles a ring, and 
with this they cut the backs of the cards near the 
corners, so that when dealing they always have 
an advantage. 

"Hold out men are men who when playing con- 
ceal cards in the palm of their hand. They do this 



CROOKED GAMBLING. 3^5 

very cleverly, sometimes dealing and handling the 
pack while palming a half dozen cards, and they 
can get rid of them without detection. Even if you 
have your eyes on the man it is hard to see any- 
thing crooked. For instance one of these fellows 
will hold four of a kind in his hand until it comes 
his age. Not always four aces, in fact, very rarely 
anything higher than tens, because high cards are 
more apt to excite suspicion. After the dealer has 
given out cards and laid down the deck, the hold 
out man will put his hand down on the deck, 
thereby putting his four tens on top, and say, 'Wait 
a while; this should have been my deal.' This is 
merely an excuse for his action in putting the cards 
on top. After a little dispute he will draw four 
cards, and as he is the first to draw he will get the 
four tens. Of course he can't play that trick more 
than twice at least in the evening, so he must se- 
lect some time when there is a big pot, and that 
isn't always possible. That is why the second card 
and the paper man have an advantage over the hold 
out man." 

It not only requires skill to perform these tricks, 
but to use them as a gambler a man must possess 
an iron nerve and never get rattled. Some magi- 
cians are very clever with cards, in fact more so 
than any gambler, but they can*t play poker with a 
crooked card player. No man could handle cards 
Vvith the dexterity of Hermann but he was a regu- 



3i6 JACK POTS. 

lar loser at poker. Of course there is another side 
to this. Hermann did not try to cheat while play- 
ing poker. If he or any other expert would de- 
liberately use his wonderful skill to cheat at cards 
does any one doubt that he could not defeat any 
crooked player? I would hate to stake the crook 
against him. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CLASSIC TALES OF POKER THE ONE-EYED MAN ORIGIN 

OF THE LOOLOO — FOUR KINGS AS BANK COLLATERAL 
JAY GOULD AS A PHILANTHROPIST. 

Around such an old and venerable institution as 
poker there has necessarily grown up a crop of 
classic stories, passed down from year to year, 
changing their location perhaps but preserving 
their main features, and losing nothing of their 
attractiveness from age. You may or may not 
have heard them before ; if they are new to you, so 
much the better; if old friends they will be wel- 
comed heartily. They run the gamut from grave 
to gay, from lively to severe, although in this col- 
lection we will omit the grave and the severe. 

In the way of sarcasm where can we find a nicer 
bit than in the story of the gambler who was in- 
dicted for running a game of chance, and triumph- 
antly acquitted on the plea of his counsel that the 
players who bucked against his bank didn't have 
any chance? This little bit should be highly ap- 
preciated by some of the venturesome visitors to 
the Chicago World's Fair who explored Clark 
Street. 

A variant myth is equally apt and pithy. A 
poker player was hauled up before a justice on the 
charge of gambling. 

317 



3i8 



JACK POTS. 



"So you were playing cards for money?" said 

the magistrate, severely. 

''No, sir; we were playing for chips." 

''It's all the same thing. You got your chips 

cashed for money at the end of the game, I sup- 



pose 



?" 



"You're 
said 



No, sir." 

'No! How's that?" "At the end of the 

game I didn't have any 
chip^, your honor." 

discharged," 
the judge, 
and he snapped it 
out so quick that 
the constable 
turned pale. 

In Montana to 
assume that the 
judge is ignorant 
of any of the 
niceties of poker 
is to be fined for 
contempt of 

"You're discharged," said the Judge. COUrt. 

A lawyer de- 
fending a prisoner charged with swindling ex- 
plained : "Your honor, one of the witnesses alleges 
that my client rung in a cold deck on him. A cold 
deck, your honor, it may be necessary to explain, 
IS a 




# CLASSIC TALES OF POKER. 319 

"The assumption," said the judge, severely, 
"that the court doesn't know what a cold deck is, 
Mr. Sharp, is an impertinence that will subject you 
to a fine if persisted in. Proceed with your argu- 
ment." 

The prevalence of poker in the West was once 
demonstrated to the satisfaction of a traveler in 
that region. 

"Can we have a little two dollar limit up stairs?" 
he asked of the hotel clerk. 

"Certainly," answered the clerk, "only be quiet 
about it." 

"Of course; but how about the sheriff?" 

"I don't know. Here, Front!" the clerk called 
to the boy. "Run over to the sherifif' s of^ce and 
ask him if he wants to take a hand in a small game 
of draw." 

No picture of western license can be more strik- 
ing than the following, which is located in the rat- 
tlesnake region of Arizona. 

"I don't see the prisoner," said the judge, as he 
waked up preparatory to sentencing the culprit. 
"Where is he?" 

"I'm blest if I know," said the sherifY, looking 
under the benches. "Just lent him my paper of 
fine cut, too." 

"Was he a big red headed man with a scar on 
his cheek?" asked the foreman, who was playing 
poker with the rest of the jury. 



320 JACK POTS. 

''That's the cuss," said the clerk. 

"Why, then," said the foreman, ''he asked me to 
go out and take a drink with him about an hour 
ago, but I showed him~ I had three sixes, and he 
said, 'Well, next time then,' and walked out." 

"The thunder you say!" roared his honor. 
"However, he's sure to be in town next week to see 
the dog fight, and some of you must remind the 
sheriff to shoot him at sight. The docket is just 
jammed full of horse stealing cases and there is 
no time to waste over homicides." 

A common saying, "There's a one-eyed man in 
the game," meaning about the same as "look out 
for a cheat," has its origin in a story that bears the 
stamp of truth. 

A little game of draw was in progress in Omaha, 
and among its participants was a one-eyed man. 
He was playing in rather remarkable luck, but no 
one could very well find fault with that. Pres- 
ently, however, there came a jack pot, and it was 
the one-eyed man's deal. He opened the pot, and 
while he was giving himself cards a certain belli- 
cose gentleman named Jones thought he detected 
the one-eyed man in the act of palming a card. 
Quick as a flash, Jones whipped out a revolver and 
placed it on the table beside him. 

"Gentlemen," he said, decisively, "we ^ill have 
a fresh deal ; this one doesn't go." 

The players were surprised, but as none of them 



CLASSIC TALES OF POKER. 321 

had bettered his hand save the opener, who made 
no sign of disapproval, they wilHngly consented. 

"And now that we start on a new deal," pursued 
Mr. Jones, carelessly toying with the revolver, "let 
me announce that we are going to have nothing 
but square deals. I am not making any insinua- 
tions or bringing any charges, and I will say only 
this, that if I catch any son-of-a-gun cheating I will 
shoot out his other eye." 

History affirms that from that time henceforth 
that game was the squarest on record. 

A well known sporting man tells this story and 
swears to it. 

"Half a dozen of us were playing a stiff game. 
A well known lawyer, known as the Colonel, hap- 
pened into the room, and though he was some- 
what the Worse for drink he insisted on taking a 
hand. A hundred dollars worth of chips were 
handed out to him and the game recommenced. 
Only a few hands had been dealt when the Col- 
onel's head sank softly down on his vest and his 
eyelids closed. He was fast asleep. 

"On the next hand — a jack pot — one of the 
players opened on an ace flush. No one came in 
and he was about to rake in the pot, when he no- 
ticed that the Colonel had not had his say. He 
reached across the table and gave the sleeping 
warrior a dig in the ribs. 

" 'Wake up,' he cried. 'Wake up and play your 
hand.' 



322 JACK POTS. 

" 'Wha's ma'r?' asked the Colonel, wearily. 

'' 'Pot is opened for five dollars. Everybody else 
is out. Is it my pot?' 

''The Colonel roused up, picked up his hand in 
a jumbled careless fashion and sleepily slid ten dol- 
lars into the pot. 

'' 'It's only five dollars to come in,' said the 
other, with the jubilant light of hope in his eyes. 
*Do you raise ?' 

" 'Oh, five dollars, is it? Well, never mind, let 
her go at that. Raise.' 

''Then the gentleman with the flush raised again. 
So did the Colonel. Finally every dollar each 
player had, went to swell the prodigiously big pot. 
The boys hated to see the Colonel throwing away 
his money in that maudlin way, but they couldn't 
interfere. 

" 'How many cards?' said the dealer. The fists 
of the two men hit the table with resounding 
thumps, as a signal that both had pat hands. It 
was a show-down then. The drowsy Colonel 
spread out on the table a queen full. The boys 
shoved him the pot, and he was too drunk to reach 
for it. The laugh was on the other player, although 
he did not have much laugh left in him. He said, 
however, that it was the first time he had ever 
wakened a man to make him play his hand and 
it would be his last." 

The story of the origin of the looloo has all the 



CLASSIC TALES OF POKER. 323 

elements of immortality. Every poker player 
should know it and every poker player who has 
heard it will enjoy reading it once more. So here 
it is : 

The locale is a gambling saloon in Butte. A 
tenderfoot had announced his intention of reliev- 
ing a few of the miners of what spare change they 
had left after assuaging their thirst. Without 
much trouble he found a victim who was willing to 
try a hand or two at poker. 

Luck favored the stranger and he won the ma- 
jority of the pots. Finally he drew four aces, and 
after the stakes had been run up to a very com- 
fortable figure, he magnanimously refused to bet 
further. 

''This is downright robbery," he said, pleasantly, 
"and I don't want to bankrupt you so early. So 
here goes." He threw down his cards and reached 
out for the money. 

"Hold on," said his antagonist. "I'll take care 
of the dust if you please." 

"But I hold four aces — see?" 

"Well, what of it? I have a looloo." 

"A— what?" 

"A looloo ; three clubs and two diamonds." 

The stranger was dazed. "A looloo?" he re- 
peated. "Well, what is a looloo anyhow?" 

"Three clubs and two diamonds," cooly repeated 
the miner. "Guess you ain't accustomed to our 
poker rules out here. See there?" 



324 JACK POTS. 

As he spoke he jerked his thumb over his shoul- 
der toward a pasteboard card which hung on the 
wall back of the bar. It read: 



A LOOLOO 

BEATS FOUR ACES. 



The game proceeded but it was plainly evident 
that the unsophisticated young gamester had 
something on his mind. Within five minutes he 
suddenly braced up and his face was wreathed in 
smiles. Then he began betting with his former 
vigor and recklessness. In fact he staked his last 
dollar on his hand. 

Just at this juncture the barkeeper stopped in 
the midst of manipulating a cocktail, and hung up 
another card behind the bar and above the dazzling 
array of glasses and bottles. 

The young man threw down his hand with an 
exultant whoop. "It's my time to howl just 
about now !" he cried, as he reached for the money. 
"There's a looloo for you^ — three clubs and two 
diamonds." 

"Pshaw!" exclaimed the miner. "Really, this is 
too bad. You don't understand our rules at all. 
You certainly don't mean to tell me that you play 



CLASSIC TALES OF POKER. 325 

poker in such a slip shod way down East, do you ? 
Why, look at that rule over there." 

He pointed over the head of the busy barkeeper. 
The unfortunate young man read his doom in the 
handwriting on the wall. The bit of pasteboard 
bore this legend: 



THE LOOLOO 

CAN BE 

PLAYED 

BUT ONCE A NIGHT. 



They say it was a Chicago man who was thus 
introduced to this awful innovation. He raised 
money to take him home, and got even on his dear 
friends, but the secret soon got out, and the loo- 
loo now goes in Chicago right along. 

Of course a subject so prolific in possibilities has 
not escaped the attention of the funny man, and 
in his efiforts of the imagination he has spared 
neither age nor position in life. Even the clergy 
have not escaped. 

There is the story of the gentleman who had in- 
advertently slipped a blue chip into the contribu- 
tion box, and called upon hie pastor next day with 



326 JACK POTS. 

an apology for his carelessness, and proffered a 
silver dollar in place of the chip. 

"Ah, yes," said the divine. "Let me see. You 
belong to the Lake Shore Club, I believe?" 

"I do," replied the gentleman, promptly. 

"Then," returned the clergyman, decidedly, "a. 
dollar is not enough. A blue chip is worth five 
dollars in your game." 

Perhaps it was the same minister who remarked 
from the pulpit, while examining the contents of 
the contribution box: 

*T regret to say that the heathen have not yet 
arrived at that point of civilization where they will 
derive any benefit from poker chips, but if the gen- 
tlemen who contributed these tokens will step 
around to the vestry after services, they may re- 
deem them; otherwise I will keep them until the 
heathen can be instructed." 

An Oklahoma preacher was even more shrewd. 

"The collection will now be taken," he said, "and 
I take this opportunity to remark that poker chips 
don't go any more. Get them cashed before you 
come and bring the money. I am forced to this 
decision by the fact that some of the brethren have 
been shoving off chips of their own manufacture 
and letting the laugh be on us when we went to 
get them cashed at the Dewdrop Fortune Parlors." 

A still more alarming state of affairs is revealed 
'•^ the protest which the Rev. Lettus Hitemhard 
lelt consiramea to make lo his congregation. 



CLASSIC TALES OF POKER. 327 

"My friends," said he, earnestly, ''the extent to 
which gambling has been carried on in our town is 
alarming. From my study I can look across the 
street into a clubroom, where night after night 
young men gather to play cards. Last night I 
saw a sight that made my blood run cold. There 
at a table sat four young men playing poker — for 
money! Yes, for money. I don't wonder that 
you shudder, brethren. Large stacks of money 
were before them, and would you believe it, I ac- 
tually saw one young man, who ought to have 
known better, bet ten blue chips on a pair of 
kings !" 

The razor and the negro are supposed to be in- 
separable companions, so in this class of poker 
tales you naturally expect to run across a razor. 
As for example, in this dialogue : 

"Did you have a citing game last night?" 

"On'y played one hand." 

"Festivities rather short, hey? What break 'em 
up?" 

"Dar was seben dollahs on de table an' I had 
three kings." 

"Berry good foh a stahter." 

"An' Mistah Jinkins held up cards." 

'Tromisin'." 

"She'. An' I drew annuda king." 

''An' won de pot?" 

"No." 



328 



JACK POTS. 



''Why, what did Jinkins draw?" 
"Er razor." 

The following story is told about the late la- 
mented King Kalakaua, who when he ruled the 
Sandwich Islands was a really good fellow, if his 
skin was dark. It is also told about the famous 

Tom Corwin, the 
Southern states- 
man of ante hel- 
ium days. . Cor- 
win had a very 
dark complexion, 
and it is told of 
him that he once 
attended a ball 
given in Wash- 
ington by a very 
exclusive mulatto 
set. He was in 
company with an- 
other Southern- 
er also of a 
sallow hue, and as they presented their tickets at 
the door, they were halted by the doorkeeper. 

''Excuse me," said that functionary. "Your 
friend may enter, but, pardon me — you are a shade 
too dark." 

However, Paul Newman, who was Attorney- 
General for Kalakaua, declares that the King was 




'Excuse me," said that functionary « * * "you 
are a shade too dark." 



CLASSIC TALES OF POKER 329 

the hero of this story. He says that the king was 
an ardent poker player but not a high roller, as 
generally believed. 

One night Newman, the King and two others 
were having a friendly set-to when a revolution 
broke out. Matters were getting interesting — 
around the poker table — w^hen a messenger came 
running in to announce that the rioters were on 
their way to sack the royal palace. It was decided 
to go home directly after the jack pot, conse- 
quently the betting was fast and furious. As the 
King placed his last bet on the board the report of 
guns was heard. 

*'Run for your lives!" cried Kalakaua. 

The party started to run, but before they got 
under way, the King showed his hand and raked 
in the pot. The party was so nervous that they did 
not notice the cards closely, so the King, who had 
three jacks, rung in a photo of himself as the fourth 
jack. After the riot had been suppressed, the trick 
was discovered, but as Kalakaua had been a steady 
loser all summer, it was not considered good form 
to kick. 

When ex-Senator Thomas Fitch lived in Vir- 
ginia City, Nevada, he was unquestionably the fin- 
est orator on the Pacific slope, and the best 
equipped lawyer, with the possible exception of the 
supreme judge, Stephen J- Field. Tom was the 
idol of every mining camp in those parts where he 



330 JACK POTS. 

was widely known. One of his failings, however, 
was his carelessness in money matters and his in- 
trepidity in incurring debts. He also had a weak- 
ness for cards and never missed an opportunity of 
getting into a game. 

One Sunday morning in 1874, Jim Merry^ a well 
known sporting man of Virginia City, rose with 
the sun and was ambling down K Street for his 
cocktail, when he met Tom Fitch. 

"Good morning. Senator," greeted Merry, ''and 
what brings you out so early ?" 

"I've been up all night in a game," answered 
Fitch, with some acerbity. 

"Well, how did you come out?" queried Merry. 

"Lost $2,530," replied the senator. 

"That's too bad. Senator," said Merry, commis- 
eratingly. "You must have played in bad luck." 

"So I did," said Fitch. "And the worst of it is 
that thirty dollars of it was in cash money." 

Of course the following incident happened in the 
breezy West, and it bears all the earmarks of sacred 
truth, which always makes a story much more en« 
joyable. 

One morning the janitor of the bank opened the 
door and was surprised to see three rather tired 
looking men sitting on the steps, the center one of 
whom held a sealed envelope carefully in sight of 
his companions. A few minutes later the cashier 
of the bank arrived and they followed him into 
the building. 



CLASSIC TALES OF POKER. 33^ 

*'Good morning, gentlemen," he said, pleasantly. 
''Want to make a deposit?" 

"No ; I want to negotiate a loan," said the man 
with the envelope, "and there ain't a minute to lose. 
I want five thousand dollars quicker than Hades 
can scorch a feather." 

"What collateral have you to offer? Govern- 
ments or commercial paper?" inquired the bank 
ofBcial. 

"Governments nothing!" exclaimed the man. 
"Fve got something that beats four per cents all 
hollow. You see, I've been sitting in a poker game 
across the street, and there's more than five thou- 
sand dollars in the pot. There are three or four 
pretty strong hands out, and as I've every cent in 
the center the boys have given me thirty minutes 
to raise a stake on my hand. It's in this envelope. 
Just look at it, but don't give it away to these gen- 
tlemen. They are in the game, and came along to 
see that I don't monkey with the cards." 

"But, my dear sir," said the cashier, who had 
quietly opened the envelope and found* it to con- 
tain four kings and an ace, "this is entirely irregu- 
lar. We do not lend money on cards." 

"But you ain't going to see me raised out on a 
hand like this, are you?" whispered the poker 
player, anxiously. "These fellows think I'm bluff- 
ing, and I can just clean out the whole gang. You 
see, we ain't playing straight flushes, so I've got 
'em right in the door." 



332 JACK POTS. 

"Can't help it, sir; never heard of such a thing," 
said the cashier, severely, and the disappointed 
applicant and his friends filed sadly out. 

On the corner they met the president of the bank 
who was himself just from an all night game. The 
man explained the case again, and the next mo- 
ment the superior officer darted into the bank, 
seized a bundle of twenties and followed the trio. 
• In about ten minutes he returned with the bundle 
and an extra handful of twenties, which he flung 
on the counter. 

"Here, credit five hundred dollars to interest 
account," he said to the cashier. ''Why, I thought 
you had more business snap. Ever play poker?" 

"No, sir." 

''Ah, I thought not. If you had you would 
know what good collateral was. Remember that 
in future four kings and an ace, with straight 
flushes barred, are always good in this institution 
for our entire assets, sir — our entire assets." 

The man who wins a lot of money from another 
fellow and then gives it back with a sermon, has 
appeared several times in print, and now he makes 
his bow in the guise of no less a person than the 
famous Jay Gould. 

It was in Chicago about twenty years ago. He 
happened to be at a hotel when a social game of 
poker was in progress. One of the party was a 
young man of about twenty-eight, who was plung- 



CLASSIC TALES OF POKER. 333 

ing recklessly. He was winning right along, rak- 
ing in pot after pot, and punctuating every one 
with a drink. 

Mr. Gould was looking on, but making no com- 
ment, and as it happened no one knew who he was. 
Finally one of the party quit, and the others asked 
Gould to take a hand. He declined. The game 
went on, the players getting every minute more 
reckless and drunker. The young plunger at 
length said, sneeringly, to Gould, "Say, if you come 
in, we'll make it ten cent limit." 

Gould was stung by the sarcasm. 

"Yes, I'll play," he said, quietly, "but you must 
not alter your game. I have not played for years, 
but I guess I can learn again." 

The game started again, and the plunger opened 
the pot for a thousand dollars. He chuckled as he 
did so and fingered his winnings, which amounted 
to nearly $8,000. The others dropped out, and 
Gould raised it a thousand dollars. 

"Two thousand better," shouted the reckless 
better. 

"Twenty thousand better," said Gould, taking a 
roll of bills from his pocket and counting out that 
amount. 

The young man sank back in his chair, sobered 
by the shock. Forcing a smile on his face, he said : 

"I have only five thousand in cash. Can I have 
a show down?" 



334 JACK POTS. 

"Yes," said Gould, grimly. 

There was a show down, and you are prepared 
to hear that Jay Gould had four aces. He always 
held four aces in every game he played — railroads 
or anything else. The broken young man arose 
and staggered out of the room, with the prospect 
of utter ruin staring him in the face. 

As he was about to leave the hotel a waiter 
stepped up to him and told him that a gentleman 
wished to see him in his room. 

''Young man," said Gould, when the young man 
was brought into his presence. ''I learn that you oc- 
cupy a responsible position in this city, and that 
you have a young wife and a child, both probably 
waiting for you at this moment. You have ruined 
yourself, your wife and your little one for an hour^s 
pleasure. It is quite evident that you are not fit 
to own anything more than a twenty dollar bill, but 
your wife must not suffer for you. Here," and 
he handed him the money he had lost, "take this to 
her, and ask her to take care of it for you." 

As the young man went out, humiliated but 
thankful, he stopped at the desk and found out 
that his benefactor's name was Jay Gould. Now 
that is the story and they do say that from that 

day Jay Gould developed symptoms of that disease 
which carried him off — enlargement of the heart. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE POETRY OF POKER DITTIES, WISE AND OTHER- 
WISE, ABOUT THE GREAT NATIONAL GAME. 

It is a very singular feature about poker that it 
has no distinctive poetry to commemorate its 
greatness. There must have been at least ten thou- 
sand poems, big and little, written about war, while 
poker has been sadly neglected, although men have 
been known to get just as mad and excited over the 
game — particularly when it was not running their 
way — as any warrior who charged up San Juan 
Hill. Horse racing has had its poets, and ''How 
Salvator Won," is a classic. Baseball has been im- 
mortalized in ''Casey at the Bat," and the football 
poet has been heard in the land. Then why has 
poker been neglected ? Where is the man who will 
send his name thundering down the ages with an 
epic poem on the great national game? Here is 
an opportunity for some one to make fame and for- 
tune. Meanwhile we must be content with odd bits 
strewn here and there, of most of which the author- 
ship is unknown. 

The first that comes to my memory is a personal 
couplet recited on many occasions by William 
Reece, of St. Paul, Fargo, Bismarck and interme- 
diate stations. It runs in this wise : 

335 



336 JACK POTS. 

I'm Poker Bill, from Poker Hill. 
I never quit, and I never will. 

The idea conveyed is that Mr. Reece had de- 
voted his life to the game of poker, and so he had. 
To be sure he did quit at intervals for meals and 
sleep, with occasional gaps when his exchequer 
was exhausted (William's name not being as good 
as his tin), but otherwise he was very faithful to 
his motto. 

This same Mr. Reece was not noted for his good 
luck, and there were times when he became ab- 
solutely melancholy over his poor success. To ren- 
der the situation more trying he came into frequent 
contact with gentlemen who had apparently no 
dif^culty in filling flushes and helping pairs, and 
it was to one of these favorites of fortune that Mr. 
Reece dedicated the following lines: 

He can put up the biggest bluff, 

His gall has turned to liver; 
And if he for a steamboat drew 

He'd surely catch a river ! 

These two examples show true poetic instinct 
and make us wish that Mr. Reece had turned his 
attention to the muse, instead of wasting his time 
drawing to deuces and bobtail flushes. 

It must have been a gentleman similarly unfor- 



THE POETRY OF POKER. 337 

tunate who illustrated the varying fortunes of the 
game with this chunk of wisdom ; 

When a fellow's ahead of the game 

He can either quit or stick ; 
But when he's way deep in the hole 

He can't do nothing but kick. 

In all well regulated games of poker the loser 
has the privilege of kicking. In Helena, Montana, 
it used to be the custom when a gentleman had 
vented his feelings over a specially hard or con- 
tinuous run of bad luck to bid the barkeeper bring 
in a barrel or a post so that he might kick to some 
purpose. This w^as calculated to make the kicker 
feel better. 

It was quite a time out West before the old 
veterans tolerated any of the modern innovations 
in the noble game and it was this spirit that dic- 
tated the forcible poetical remark here given: 

The man who'd play the "joker" 
In a friendly game of poker — 

He be dam! 

The only poet who has turned his attention to 
poker and given us a book on it is Mr. George W. 
Allen, of St. Louis. It is marred, however, by 
the fact that it is not a poem in the strict sense of 
the term, being rather a poker code, conveying in- 



33^ JACK POTS. 

struction in a rhyme. In fact, Mr. Allen closes his 
work by giving a lot of plain, prosaic statistics 
about bettering your hand. Poker players may re> 
member having seen something of that sort; all 
about how you ought to draw to this or that, and 
when to stay in or stay out, and a lot more in the 
same line that poker players pay no attention to 
when they are actually locked in deadly comical 
over the round table. 

However, Mr. Allen evidently knows something 
about poker, although he slips a cog once in a 
while, which is not to be wondered at when we 
consider the complexity of the theme. 

"Let them rave over whist," melodiously chants 
the poet as a preface to his rhymed essay: 

Let them rave over whist, 

And admit all they say — 
There's a game that is better 

For seven to play. 

Why seven ? Whist is not played by seven per- 
sons. Neither is poker, as a rule, unless the players 
are willing to shufifle up the discard to draw cards, 
and that is liable to lead to complications. Per- 
haps there is something more poetic about seven 
than four or five. 

Having thus attuned his lyre, Mr. Allen sings in 
a sweeter key of the chances of getting the various 



THE POETRY OF POKER. 339 

hands in the great and alluring game. Here is 
what he savs about the *'draw," that fateful rite 
upon which destiny hangs breathless. 

Those who go in wdth hands the best 
Will come out better than the rest 

It's what they *'draw to" and have *'cold" 
And not "all in the draw" as told. 

Of course it is not ''all" in the draw, but Mr. 
Allen is too rash when he makes the bold state- 
ment that the man who goes in with the best hand 
will come out in the same situation. Then what 
would be the use of going in with a bobtail flush, 
which, as it stands, is worth nothing at all? And 
\vho has not elevated the^pot on two pair and been 
beautifully flaxed by some one who stayed on a 
measley pair of fours and caught the other one? 
Go to, Mr. Allen ! 

Then he sings right along like a bird and de- 
scribes the chances of the draw for various hands. 

Drawing for flushes ought to pay 
When five or six go in and stay ; 

Or when there's any chance to win 
Five times the cost of going in. 

That's what you miight call playing them close to 
your stomach. There may be men who can do it, 
but they are few. It requires a strong constitu- 



340 JACK POTS. 

tion to resist the temptation to draw to a four 
flush, with ace or king up, even if there is only one 
other in the game. Still, that's business, no doubt. 
Here is a verse on a mooted point, that has in its 
meter the ring of sage experience. 

With four flush and tens or under, 

Break the pair — more chance for plunder. 

With aces up, and threes to beat. 
Draw three, if others don't compete. 

Plunder? More chance for plunder? What sort 
of cold blooded talk is this coming from a poet? 
One is bound to suspect that the St. Louis rhyme- 
ster is in the game for keeps, and not merely a 
joyous delineator. No one would care to buck up 
against a man who could write such cold and cruel 
lines. And he is artful, too. Just listen : 



When you have threes and the pot is small, 
Then you draw one to fool them all ; 

That you improve, is one to 'leven, 
As fours make once in forty-seven. 

There is more truth than poetry in that. But he 
does not believe in this decoy draw except when 
the pot is so little that one can afford to monkey 
with it indifferently. 

In the following our poet gets right down to 
hard pan and friendship ceases. 



THE POETRY OP POKER. 34^ 

Sometimes with threes you have more fun, 
By holding up and drawing one; 

But in big pots where all go in, 

Draw two — you may need fours to win. 

Got it down fine, hasn't he? Yet w^e have all 
seen the time when a really terrific hand has been 
made by holding up a side card, and it requires a 
man of iron nerve to throw away a fat ace or a lusty 
king when it accompanies three Uttle deuces or 
treys. And then you don't get as good a play 
when you draw two cards to threes, and thus give 
your hand away, as if you can make the boys 
think you are drawing to two pair. 

But for real, downright duplicity just lend your 
ear to this song of the serpent as he lays a snare for 
his victim. 

Sometimes it pays when naught you hold, 
To play "pat" hands, and bet 'em bold. 

Then others call — you win two-fold 

When you have straights or flushes ''cold." 

The man must be a perfect demon. Is it right to 
play on the innocence of your friends in that way? 
You w^iil notice that the poet intimates that when 
he stands pat with nothing in his hand and gets 
away with the stakes he is going to let the other 
fellows see that he has bluffed them, so as to lure 



/ 

Siflt 

342 JACK POTS. 

them on to ruin, when he subsequently holds a pat 
flush or full. It is just as well that young players 
should be w^arned against such frightful tricks,- so 
that they will not burn up their good rnoney in 
playing against poets. 

On the very heels of this he comes out with a 
lyric on a "dead blufif." 

Most any pair, and little **sand," 

Will often beat a first rate hand. 
Bluf^ng pays one hand in twenty, 

Sometimes more when chips are plenty. 

And so on, through all the varying features and 
vicissitudes of the great national game, the poet 
rides his Pegasus against and amidst chips, jack 
pots, kitties and the like. Some of his advice 
sounds worldly and unfeeling, but it is poetical, and 
beginners must always bear in mind that the vast 
majority of poker players do not sit down to the 
table for the benefit of their health. Indeed, at 
almost any friendly game, it appears at times as if 
the players were out for the heart's blood of their 
friends. 



THE END. 



'\ 



